


Hackers of the Eternal Sphere

by Ysavvryl



Category: Star Ocean: The Second Story | Second Evolution
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Demons, Dragon Who Loves Barrels, Gen, MMORPGs, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-12-14
Packaged: 2018-05-02 17:22:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 50
Words: 262,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5257115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/pseuds/Ysavvryl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>4D is a utopian paradise, free of pain, suffering, war, and even death.  So why are these 4D citizens more interested in the flawed virtual world of Expel instead?  SO2 retelling with heavy SO3 influence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introductions Are In Order

**Author’s Intro**

I am a huge fan of Star Ocean 2. I’ve played it so many times that I’ve started replaying just to get endings for crack pairings. So of course I would turn to making a fanfic at one point. I’ve got this little (hah!) retelling to give you to read.

I played and beat Star Ocean 3; while I liked it, it doesn’t get me as absorbed as SO2. When I go onto message boards and discussion sites, lots of people seem to dislike the big twist about the Eternal Sphere game. They say it cheapened the rest of the series. I rather liked the twist myself; it wasn’t that bad. Plus, it gave me the idea for this fic. Because just maybe, it can enhance the other SO entries instead.

This fanfic should be considered AU, because it messes with events, causes/effects, and some story paths. I’ve done my best not to mess with the characters too much, but I elaborate on backgrounds or make them up if there’s practically nothing there. It involves some inevitable shipping, Spore references, and bad singing. It uses the PS1 names, as that’s the reference I have on hand.

Lastly, I hope you enjoy Hackers of the Eternal Sphere! Tell your friends!

* * *

 

**Historical Intro**

There was war in the galaxy, massive violent war where whole planets were rendered unfit for life. Under this chaos, madness flourished and continued the reign of war. It lasted for a thousand years, until there were only the victors left. The soldiers came home to celebrate and rest, but discovered that one of their foes had left a vengeful present behind. Much of the army and many of the civilians were left dead. As their own home world was nothing but dust, the survivors were exhausted from the violence. That was enough, they declared. They wanted war no more.

And so they got rid of all the trappings of war. Using their technology, they eliminated all weapons and suffering. They built a new world, a completely safe and peaceful world; they called it the Fourth Delrina, or 4D, because their natural homeland had to be reconstructed twice in past galactic wars. They stopped all uncertainty in their galaxy, leading to no more meteor showers, no more dangerous cosmic radiation storms, no more black holes, no more supernovas, and most of all, no more threats of the end of the universe. They even eliminated death, perfecting the genes of the population and providing the option to ‘start over’ with a new body and fresh memory. At long last, they had achieved utopia.

But the path to sentience includes a desire to compete. No matter how much the 4D residents tried, they could not erase competitiveness and the draw to violence to move ahead. As much of the work was done automatically now, jobs because scarce and a symbol of pride instead of drudgery. To solve this, the 4D residents developed outlets for this competitiveness. The most effective were immersion games, and the most successful immersion game was called the Eternal Sphere.

This is the story of some of the players of the Eternal Sphere and their adventures in the star ocean that was still vibrant with life.

* * *

 

**Pirate Hacker Intro**

Only the vastness of space can hold the myriad of dreams of trillions of intelligent beings…

The vastness that stretched unthinkably wide, to where even the brightest of stars could not completely cast their light to the edges of the universe.

The Pangalactic Federation covered the Milky Way galaxy, but they knew their galaxy was not the only one. They knew that there were other galaxies out there, sending their light over space and time. However, they had yet to reach those places. They were more focused on achieving peace and balance within their own galaxy before they ventured out to those places. But the dream was still there, built upon from desires to see what was across the lands, across the oceans, across the skies, across the galaxy.

The vast majority of those beings did not know what lay beyond their galaxy. There was a minority that did, though. Not only did they know what lay in those other galaxies, they had made those other galaxies. They had made the Milky Way galaxy. They were the 4D beings, gods and players of the entire universe.

In the empty vastness of space, a group of them were meeting aboard a wooden ship with canvas sails and a skull-and-crossbones flag.

Although the pirate ship seemed to have absolutely no protection from the dangers of space, nobody on board wore any protection. Most of them were dressed rather elaborately, with huge hats, curly wigs, bright overcoats, swirling capes, flashy jewelry, or other showy flairs. They were having a grand time, drinking and chatting. Later, most would agree it was one of their better parties.

Not all of them were pleased with the festivities, though. One in particular resembled a Fellpool, with his furry feline ears, long feline tail, long powder blue hair, and dark blue eyes. He wasn’t dressed quite as obnoxiously as the others, in just a frilled shirt, red vest with gold buttons, red pants with gold trim, and black boots. Another thing that set him apart was the fact that he wasn’t drunk or getting drunk. Rather, he leaned against the main mast and listened to the chatter around him while sipping some strawberry-flavored soda.

“I think Louta III is going to emerge as the next big thing,” a woman in a frilly dress with a hoopskirt said. Despite the attire, she was sitting at a table playing poker with some of the others. “It’s struggling a bit to get out of their tribal phase, but the setting has all the makings of a popular planet.”

“Sure it’s nice, but it doesn’t beat the fact that Raiten had dragons,” one of the others at the poker game said. He stood out for wearing a western cowboy outfit on this pirate ship. “And not just a singular species, but dozens in just about every element you can think of. I’ve got insider info that the Sphere Company is considering allowing players to be one of the Raiten dragons. That would be a total win.”

“You can just hack yourself control of a dragon anytime you want,” the woman said.

“I know, but for the prude crowd, it would be the first time they have access to actual dragons in the Milky Way, not those hybrid dragon-men which have horrid stat spreads.”

“I hear Expel is getting fairly popular with the peace-lovers.”

The Felpool’s ears pricked up on hearing that planet name. Expel… that was like his secret discovery, a great world that was unnoticed by much of the 4D crowd. To hear that it was getting popular and noticed was a bit sad to him. The Expel crowd was a good bunch, very friendly. The last thing he wanted was for a bunch of warmongering new people coming in to upset the balance.

Getting bored with the chatter, he looked at his near empty bottle, then traced a small crest on it with a fingernail. At first, it went gray as an invalid spell, but he forced it to become valid. The bottle then refilled itself with soda and replaced the cap. Then he stuck it in a small bag at his hip and climbed up the mast’s ladder to the crow’s nest.

At the top, he looked out at the ocean of stars surrounding them. It really was a lot of black with clusters of stars. But from where they were in relation to the major plane of the Milky Way galaxy, it did seem like an ocean of light sparkles spread out in front of the wooden vessel. Above him, there were clusters of light which indicated other galaxies. Those were other game servers. Some played by the same rules, others didn’t.

It was all a game. Some server galaxies were very violent; one in particular, called Redden, was notorious for allowing itself to be completely destroyed by its warlike races, only to restart the whole bloodbath again. In others, a player didn’t just play a single character; he or she played a whole species trying to dominate the server galaxy. The Sphere Company, which ran the entire game universe, hadn’t yet allowed any server to reach another, except as special events which were strictly controlled.

But was it all just a game?

He noticed when the area around him shifted in a hack teleport. He sighed. “If you really want to be a true leader of hackers, you should work on covering your traces better.”

The ship’s captain, represented by an avatar of a blond haired man with the uniform of a Pangalactic commodore save for the large triangular feathered hat of a pirate, rolled his eyes. “It takes one to know one. Nobody else notices.”

He held his ears back. “Don’t be so certain of that.”

A woman had come up with him. Her avatar had medium blue hair of a nice gloss; she wore a jewel-laden silver and blue dress. “You shouldn’t be so paranoid. We programmed this ship to be undetectable to Sphere’s security forces.”

“Except that it’s an antique pirate ship out in the middle of space and you have an Executioner tracking the ship.”

“No we don’t,” the captain insisted.

Waving his hand, he said, “Tria, bring up the tracker’s data.” A blur of programming appeared in the middle of the air. “Read it and weep. You’ve got a security program trying to pin down our location. I’ve been the one throwing it off, but this is getting ridiculous. You should have noticed it. That is, if you were sober.”

He leaned against the edge of the nest to look at the data while the woman with him giggled. But they both clearly had alcohol on their breath. “I thought I had this ship undetectable by programming…” he muttered.

“It’s detectable through common sense,” the Felpool hacker said with a slight hiss. “This party tells me that I was right to leave, and now I will stay gone. But I’m not about to get caught on the bad idea of someone else. Tria, my menu.”

The browser brought up the game menu, which was normally inaccessible when immersed in the game. He used it to bring up a program which completely erased all data of the pirate ship, at least from his system and what was visible in the Eternal Sphere. To complete the cover-up, he transferred all the partiers onto a Pangalactic ship, to the observation deck.

There were groans and quick complaints about the loss of the stylish ship, but the Felpool ignored them. He turned to the pirate hacker captain and handed over a data disk. “Accept this. It will transfer ownership of this ship from me to you, as well as give you the background information that makes it look like a legitimate Federation ship. You will have to fix something up to explain the sudden drunken costume party to the drone officers, though.”

A bit slow due to the drinking, the captain shifted his large hat before accepting the data disk. “Why’re you leading?”

“Leaving,” the woman corrected, grabbing the captain’s arm.

“I heard why you stepped down as our leader, but leaving for good?”

“You guys are just a bunch of self-absorbed losers,” the Felpool hacker sneered. “You don’t consider the consequences of your actions, like with that silly show boat. You’re just asking to get caught by the government and I don’t want to be caught up in the upheaval of that. Plus, I’m concerned about bigger issues now. Something terrible is happening and no one, not even the Sphere Company, has fully caught on to it like I have. Besides, we need to think of the residents of this universe.”

“Residents?” the woman asked. “They’re just NPCs.”

“They are not just NPCs,” he said in a stern voice. “They are not just mindless characters. They are fully sentient beings that deserve to be respected. And I aim to prove this. But you’ve proven yourself worthless for the purpose.”

“Hey, what’s the big idea?” the captain shouted. “Giving me a parting gift and then insulting us? You taught a great many of us!”

“I know, and I regret that now.” He then vanished.

Moments later, he had all data connecting him to the group and his old ship gone or altered. He wanted no trace to remain that would link him to the others. Now he would just have to be careful about his own memory.


	2. Getting Bored

-C.J., 4D

Her home was nice, made of a white stone with red ceramic trim. Of course, it wasn’t real stone or real ceramics. It was all synthetics constructed to be uniform and safe. It had a charming feel, but it was so hard to decorate sometimes. “Does the carpet have to be so flat?” she asked. “It would look nicer if it was filled out like real carpet.”

“It is a real carpet, C.J.,” her robotic butler said. “We must keep the tripping hazard to a minimum.”

“I know, so no one gets hurt. Are there non-flat options?”

“There are a few.” The butler zapped the carpet, then modified it to be a little fuller. C.J. fussed a while until it finally gave her something that resembled a plush rug, although the sloped edges still had that mark of safety.

“That should be fine,” she accepted. “Upload pattern,” she checked her wristwatch computer to make sure the number was right, “DRD-802874.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” The robot adjusted the carpet to have a dark red background with a pattern of red, yellow, and cream colored diamonds.

From there, C.J. had her butler adjust her other pieces of furniture. It seemed like she was mostly redecorating her home these days. She used to work at the transport station; it had been something to be proud of. But then her term was up and she had to give the job up to someone else. She still had a lot of time left before she could apply for another job. It was such a bore.

After changing the major pieces of furniture, she gave the decorating up for the time being. The new look was good, but she would have to wait a few days to see if she really liked it. The butler went off to clean up the remade carpet; it would shortly go to make dinner. While the robot butlers never complained if you did their work, they could report repetitive chore doing to the medical network, who would come in to make sure you didn’t have an emotional problem. They’d report anything that could be a sign of problems, so that no one suffered. At least for long.

They didn’t seem to care about suffering from boredom, though. Unless that was a sign of another problem. C.J. felt jealous of those who had permanent jobs, like those in the medical network. At least they were always doing something important, not just redecorating a house.

But, there was a way she could feel important. C.J. went downstairs to her game room. There was an immersion chair there. Covered in soft black fabric, it had a full back and leg rest. A helmet device would come down over the player’s head and connect with the mind in order to fully engage all senses in the ES play. While there were a few straps, just in case of problems, it was really quite comfortable while getting ready for a play session. She set herself in and brought up the menu screen.

_Welcome to the Eternal Sphere, where the limitless universe awaits you!_

_Which profile do you wish to load?_

After noticing that one of the profiles had an alert, she picked that one.

_Planet-Expel_

_Character- Celine Jules_

_Style- dating sim/adventure_

_**Alert!** – This character has planned on attending an auction, which begins in 12:48 minutes. Goals are (1) meet with Chris (2) acquire Old Map of Cross Cave._

_Play as Celine?_

C.J. accepted that profile. The immersion chair pulled the screen aside as the helmet came down over her head. As the chair began to latch onto her arms and legs, she recalled the first time she remembered using the immersion device. Being strapped down like this had spooked her. But like everyone else, she had quickly grown over it. A scent of freesia came to her senses as her mind slipped away from her world and into another.

* * *

 

-Celine, Cross Castle, ballroom

The ballroom of Cross Castle was grand and elegant, with a tiered crystal chandelier, an arched walkway above, polished marble floors, and pretty unicorn statues. However, one couldn’t fully appreciate this room today. It was packed with all kinds of people: nobles, businessmen, adventurers, travelers, and even farming peasants. Today they were holding the monthly Royal Auction, when all sorts of rare and unique items could be bought. That is, if you had the fol to pay the bids.

Somewhere in the crowd, there was an elegant sorceress. Maybe not as elegant as others. She was also an adventurer, after all, and ones clothes didn’t always stay pristine in wilderness and ancient ruins. Today, she had made sure that her white lace cloak was dust and mud free, that her pink boots were clean. She wore a pink dress that was small, but she didn’t mind showing off her Heraldic tattoos. Knowing advanced crest magic as she did was something to be proud of, after all. Topping it off, she had a magician’s hat, all pointed and with a halo ring to boot.

One could be proud of a lovely appearance too.

Celine opened her paper fan and stirred up the air some. So many people packed into this place made it warm and stuffy. Beside her, she kept her traveling bag on the bench. Some folks still getting settled gave her a look to remove the bag, which she replied with a look that said she most certainly would not. She was waiting for someone. Hopefully he hadn’t gone to their usual place to meet up.

Thankfully, she felt his hand on her shoulder and heard his voice. “Sorry I’m late,” he whispered.

Showing a bright smile, she moved her bag to the floor. “It’s fine, Chris. I’m glad you made it.”

He stepped over the bench and dropped down beside her. The blond-haired man was quite handsome, if oddly naïve. But he did have intelligence enough to keep Celine’s notice. Just taking her hand for now, he asked, “How far along is it?”

“Not far enough,” she whispered, using her fan to block their words. “They’re still on the farming tools, which is why it’s packed in here.”

“To be with you, I’d go anywhere and endure any boredom,” Chris said with a smile and a sparkle of his blue eyes.

Making a soft giggle, Celine playfully swatted her fan at him before going back to keeping them cooler. As the auction went on, the goods became better. Those who couldn’t afford those items left when they had gotten what they came for, in order to claim anything won in the next room. Much of it was of no interest to her. Chris’ presence did make things more bearable, so that was good.

Finally, they got to the item she wanted. She’d had her eye on it since she’d heard of its discovery a month ago. It being up for auction was something she was grateful for; competition for being a hired explorer would have been tougher to get through. “Next, we have an intriguing map of Cross Cave,” the auctioneer announced. “This was discovered among a hermit’s collection and it appears to have a previously unrecorded path on it. Bidding begins at a 1000 fol, do we have any takers?”

Celine wanted the item, but she wanted a good price on it. She took her bidder’s card off her lap, but didn’t hold it up. Besides, what competition did she have?

A decent one, as three cards went up. Chris tightened his grip on her hand. “Didn’t you want this?” he whispered.

“Yes, but this is where strategy comes in,” she whispered back.

The auctioneer went into full speed mode as the map quickly shot up to 2000 fol. One of the three dropped their card at this point. As it crept up in price, one of the bidders seemed uncertain. When he hesitated, Celine raised her card to claim a bid of 2700. The uncertain one folded, but the other remained strong. The map went over 3500.

“This is going to be a bit pricy,” Celine whispered to Chris from behind her fan.

“I can pitch in if you take me into the cave,” he offered.

“Would you?”

“Of course. Sounds fun.”

Taking that offer, Celine made a signal with her card to bump the price up two levels to 4000. The other bidder wavered, then dropped his card. “And the map goes to the pretty lady with number 55, congratulations. Our next item up for bid,” the servants quickly took the map away and replaced it with a pricey looking vase. Celine and Chris got up to go to the other room.

She could afford a 4000 fol price tag, but Chris held strong on his offer and passed over a quarter of it. While he looked over a suit of armor on display, Celine paid the clerk who was taking care of the items. “Okay, number 55… you have the map of Cross Cave.” Once she paid, the brown parchment was handed over to her. “And there you go. Have a good day.”

“Thank you,” she said. She picked up the map and looked it over. The new passage was apparent to her immediately. From the far eastern part of the caves, it led to what was labeled a treasure room. Just as she’d hoped for! A hermit like the one who had last owned this map wouldn’t have claimed a treasure. But what about other explorers? “Chris, look at this,” she said.

“Hmm?”

While he looked at it, a maid came into the room. “Something really odd is going on,” she told the clerk. “The King has had all audiences postponed so he could meet with a special pair of travelers. But they’re only from Arlia, so I don’t know what’s so special.”

“Who is it?” the clerk asked.

“I don’t know. It was a girl with blue hair and a handsome young man; he looks almost like the Prince, but he wears such odd clothes and talks in a strange manner.”

Although they had been looking at the map, both Celine and Chris had noticed the comment about the two special visitors. A special audience given? What could it mean?

“It is an old map,” Chris finally said.

“It’s different, though. Let’s go.” She led the way out of the auction area.

“Say, those special visitors… I wonder who they are. The King wouldn’t delay all audiences for no one.”

“Especially not some hicks from Arlia,” Celine added.

“Well… I heard that the King used to be friends with the mayor of Arlia. That may have something to do with it. Still makes me wonder.”

With a mischievous smile, Celine pulled her fan up and whispered, “Do you want to go sneak over and take a peek at them?”

Chris paled a bit, nervously scratching his head. “Well I’d like to know… but we shouldn’t get caught.”

“We shouldn’t get caught if we’re quiet and sneaky. Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Ah, all right.”

Quietly, the couple went upstairs to find the side hall entrance to the King’s audience chamber. Chris seemed flustered still, so Celine slipped closer to look and listen. Like the maid said, there was a girl, about sixteen-ish, with short blue hair and a young man, probably in his early twenties, meeting with the King. “Haven’t you sent an expedition team to Eluria to scout the area?” the girl asked.

King Cross hesitated a moment, his lips moving partly as he tried to word something carefully. “We have… they have not returned. To be frank, we don’t have much information about the state of the continent of Eluria or the Sorcery Globe. We have called for adventurers to form more effective survey teams of Eluria, but without much luck.”

“That must have been why we saw so many of them in town,” the young man said. Again the maid was right. There was something odd about his speech. Celine couldn’t pinpoint what was off; the sound of the words didn’t seem right, yet they were clear and understandable. He wore a brown jacket with odd patches sewn onto them, and brown pants. Although she was some distance away, they didn’t seem too odd.

“Right,” the girl said. She was dressed like a typical country girl, in a blue jumper and small red cape. “We mean to make our own investigation of the Sorcery Globe. We are in earnest, your Highness; this is no adventure. We need a passport to cross over to Eluria, though.”

“All efforts to this study are appreciated,” the King said. “We would rather you not be involved, Miss Rena. However, Claude here does seem to be a stout and capable young man. Since you are together, we think it would be possible… it would be better if he were better equipped.” He made a motion to a guard, who came over to speak quietly.

The guard then came over to the pair. “Here is your passport and some travel money,” he said, handing over the documents and a coin sack.

The girl Rena seemed pleased and surprised. “Thank you, your Highness. This helps a lot.”

“Now, now, we cannot be stingy when we ask you to carry out such a dangerous task,” the King said in a generous tone.

At that, Celine slipped back to avoid notice. Chris was looking out a window while keeping an eye out for a maid, oddly enough. He turned to her when she came back. “Who was it?”

“Some adventurers volunteering for the Sorcery Globe investigation,” Celine told him. “It sounds exciting… but I don’t want to be pulled so far away from you, lovey.”

Smiling, he took her hand and walked down the hall with her. “I don’t want to be pulled away from you ever, dovey.”

They split up for a short while. Chris wanted to get his weapon and armor, so Celine went into town to buy supplies. As she’d been the cave there before, she knew what to expect. The known passages could take days to get through, so to find an unknown passage, they couldn’t be certain of how long it would take. Although it was an endurance test, it wouldn’t be too hard for Chris. The poor boy needed to get out of the city anyhow, and Cross Cave would be a decent introduction to adventuring. Not like Salva Drift (easier, but with too much coal dust), Lasguss Mountains (too hard), or Mountain Palace (way too hard)

Besides, it would be the two of them in a vast cave system only visited by adventurers. That might lead to some rather different kind of adventures… Celine suppressed a smile at that. Ladies weren’t supposed to think like that. In that case, she considered finding someone else to adventure with. Groups would be safer, and it wouldn’t look so bad if someone came upon them.

As she left the open market area in north Cross, she found Chris looking for her. The interesting thing was that he was wearing Lacourian made armor. That much was noticeable by the metal craftsmanship and the lack of protective crests. But it bore the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Cross. With that, she knew that her guess was right: Chris belonged to some noble family of Cross. Only they would have the money to afford a customized Lacour plate mail like that. At his side, he had a high-quality crossbow and a sturdy case for his bolts.

“Are you ready for an adventure?” Celine asked as she took his arm.

He grinned, but still looked nervous. “Yeah. I hope I don’t slow you down.”

“It’s okay. I was just thinking that we might want to find some other adventurers for this trip. It would be better…”

“HEY YOU!” a loud voice called, interrupting the daily flow of pedestrians. “Stop, you witch!”

When they turned, they saw a green-haired man in a dark blue cape. From his shadowed face, they could tell that he was angry, at Celine. “Pardon?” she asked, hiding any agitation. “You say that as if it were an insult.”

“And you’re a stinking con artist too,” the man started ranting. “I saw you fixing the auction for that map; I would’ve had it if not for your meddling magic. You’re going to pay for your cheating ways, but you can spare yourself some agony by handing that map over to me right now.”

Chris looked intimidated, but did his best to defend her. “She didn’t use any magic in the auction.”

“So you’re in on it too, you sniveling dainty-fingered coward. A noble’s baby like you couldn’t survive in the harsh monster nest that is Cross Cave. This saucy seductress is just out to use you and toss you out for the mongrels to eat.”

Annoyed by this, Celine was about to give the man a piece of her mind when the two young people from earlier stepped out of the crowd. “Excuse me,” the teen girl said, “but you shouldn’t be speaking to people in that way.”

“You’re just making a foolish spectacle of yourself,” the young man with her added.

“And just what do YOU intend to do about it?” he snapped at them. “Naïve fools… but the matter at hand is the map which this stinking witch stole!”

With that, Celine figured that this guy was the sort who made a huge fuss whenever he didn’t get his own way. One couldn’t combat him by yelling back. One had to choose ones words carefully. “That map is the issue, my dear wizard,” she stated as calmly as she could manage. “But I have paid for the map in full, using legal methods of doing so. Anyone at the auction could tell you that. Besides, you shouldn’t be picking fights with just anyone in the street. It’s so vulgar.”

“WHAT?! That does it. I’ll make you see who’s the vulgar one around here!” He brought his hands up and began tracing red lines in the air. Energy, a great amount of it, began to gather to him.

The crowd that had been stopped by the wizard’s tantrum started to back off, reasonably frightened. Celine sighed. Such a showoff. She brought her left hand up, palm facing down; the rune tattooed on the back of her hand began to glow red. Within a second, a small fireball appeared under her fingertips. When she flicked her wrist about, the fireball shot at the wizard, interrupting his spell. The two fire magics combined and set his cape alit. Yelping, he ripped it off and began stomping the flames out. The crowd laughed.

“You…” he growled, but then realized the whole situation had turned on him. “You’re going to pay for this.” He snatched up his smoldering cape and ran out of Cross.

“Well I hope that taught him a lesson,” Celine declared.

“Thanks for standing up to him,” Chris said, relaxing now that the wizard was gone. “Especially since you didn’t have to do it.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble,” the girl said. “Really, he shouldn’t have been so rude.”

“Well it was all fabrications he was spouting anyhow,” Celine said. The crowd around them had moved on with their daily routines. “Thanks.” Then she thought, maybe these two would be good. A tad naïve like Chris, but it couldn’t be helped. “Oh, but you two recently had an audience with the King, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but how did you know it was us?” the young man said.

“Well we heard that the King was delaying all audiences for a special pair of visitors. We couldn’t help ourselves and snuck a peek to see who.”

“That’s an interesting hobby,” the girl said, somewhat amused.

“Now now, there was no harm done. My name is Celine Jules; I’m a treasure hunter. And this is my boyfriend.”

“Chris,” he said. “I, um, live here.”

“Hello,” the girl said with a smile. “I’m Rena Lanford, from Arlia.”

“I’m Claude Kenni,” the young man added. “A traveler. We’re heading to Eluria to check out the Sorcery Globe.”

“That’s a brave deed,” Chris said. “Good luck to you.”

“Actually, I was thinking about that,” Celine interrupted. “You see, Eluria was a decent place to visit, so I heard, at least before the Sorcery Globe fell. Now it’s supposed to be incredibly dangerous, with demons thriving.”

“We’ll be careful,” Rena said, although she did look a touch nervous.

Celine came over and patted her shoulder. “Yes, darling, but from the looks of you, maybe you could use some more experience in dangerous places. If you don’t mind a teensy little detour, I think I know of a good place where you can make sure your training is enough.”

“Really?”

“That would be good, thank you,” Claude said.

“Chris and I were headed to Cross Cave for a little exploration,” Celine told them. “We’re going in to find treasure, but it would be great of you to come with us. I think it would benefit us all in the end.”

“So, Cross Cave?” Rena asked, a bit surprised. “I thought it had been fully explored years ago.”

“So it’s been said, but a new map has been discovered of an unknown passage. We bought it at the auction today. It had been previously owned by a religious hermit, so if this is authentic, then we may find treasures and sights that no one else has claimed! And even if not, we’ll all be stronger for the trip. So what do you say? Would you like to come with us?” She also sent a glance to Chris, making sure he was alright with it.

Rena and Claude looked to each other, but seemed to be in agreement. “Sure, thanks for the offer,” Claude said. “We were headed for Clik, so I hope it’s not too far out of the way.”

She nodded. “It’s on the road there, so no problems.”

“Celine lovely, you manage to think of everything, don’t you?” Chris asked in admiration. “We’re glad to have you two along.”

She laughed at his words, pleased that it was all going so well.


	3. Lasguss Mountain Trail

-C.J., 4D

There was a knock at C.J.’s door. “It’s Dr. Hall, making a house call.”

C.J. stiffened at the words, nearly losing the forest painting that she had been hanging on the wall. Afraid of what it meant, but knowing that she shouldn’t ignore him, she set the painting on the floor and went to the entry hall. “Come in, Dr. Hall.”

On the surface, Dr. Hall seemed like a well-groomed and friendly man. He wore a dark brown shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. Only his special nametag identified him as an employee of the medical network. He carried a silver briefcase, holding his computer and medical tools. “Good morning, citizen,” he said, giving her a handshake. “You call yourself C.J., correct?”

Feeling her hands get jittery, she replied, “Yes sir. Would you care for a drink? Butler?”

“Water would be fine, thank you.” After the robotic butler gave them both a glass of water, they sat down in the living room, C.J. in the armchair and the doctor on the couch. “C.J. you seem to be having some problems with boredom.”

“You came here for that?” she asked, puzzled. She knew psychologists came when one was upset or overly angry. But not bored.

“A restless mind shows a need for novelty and change,” he replied. “Leaving one to be bored for too long leads to troubles that would not occur otherwise. We have recently decided to act on this, assisting those who feel a lack of interest in ongoing activities.”

“Well I’m not entirely bored. I have some interesting quests going on in the Eternal Sphere, but otherwise…” she looked around the room, now designed based on a forest theme. “Well I’m just not finding a decorating style that satisfies me lately.”

“Any problems with the style you’ve had before you started changing?”

“Not really. It was just old. I hadn’t changed it since when my first grandkids came.”

He nodded. “I saw that. You have been married, had kids, had grandkids, held a job… your most recent hobby was in solar sailing.”

“I know I’ve done a lot,” she said, getting worried about how this meeting was going. “There are other things, I just…” she bit her lip.

“You just what?”

“Haven’t had interest in them,” she admitted reluctantly. “Even when I tried them.”

“It’s not something to be ashamed of; we all have different interests. Have you considered starting over?”

Being regressed to a child, with all memories forgotten? C.J. took a strand of her red-orange hair and twirled it around her fingers. “I’ve known about it, but haven’t thought seriously on it. I always thought that there might be something more for me to do.” But now that everything seemed boring and uninteresting…

“We don’t want anyone to be unhappy,” Dr. Hall said. “And boredom is a kind of unhappiness. You should look into it. May I take an exam of you now?”

“Sure.” They’d only be back with a stronger persistence if she refused, since refusal could be sign of a problem. It took a couple of minutes, but then the doctor had a precise picture of how her body and mind were functioning right at those minutes.

“You’re still vibrant and healthy,” Dr. Hall assured after he looked over the results. “You could take on a new hobby with no problems, but since none of them satisfy you… how are you on your Eternal Sphere quests?”

She was momentarily taken aback by the shift of topic. “Oh. I have a dating sim style, part adventure, that’s close to the engagement stage, I think. It’s a deep and solid relationship, at least. And I have a more basic adventure profile too; she’s in the middle of a lengthy quest and I’m not sure how long that’ll last.”

“I’m afraid that I must put a restriction on you creating any new profiles or switching styles for the time being. I’ll be back to reassess you in time, at which point the restriction may be lifted. In the meantime, I’ll allow you access to some relaxing drugs to help with any underlying stress that may be affecting you.”

They spoke some more pleasantries, and then the doctor left. C.J. was left with a booklet about starting over. She’d read it before, but never in thought of her doing so. And the restriction would be a tough one to deal with. After hanging the picture, she decided to go onto the Eternal Sphere.

As she looked over the menu screen, she noticed that the restriction had already taken affect. Sighing, she checked the message boards before logging in this time. Maybe someone would have some tips on how to stretch things out. Maybe not Celine’s profile; she was too far along to drag out without failing and the doctors would notice a fail like that. But maybe her generic adventure game…

She’d best finish off her Celine profile, then, so she could focus on the other. Thinking on that, she recalled the other characters she was playing with. Chris was an NPC; that actually made it tougher to carry on a proper romance with him. Aside from hacking, there was no way to find out more about him. And you couldn’t arrange things in the OoC boards, like with another PC. But that’s what she wanted, a harder romance to pull off. Besides, he was handsome and witty, well spoken. Even if he was on the cowardly and sheltered side, she liked that about him. And Chris was being braver due to her influence.

Then there was that pair, Rena and Claude. C.J. was certain that there were Players behind them, as both were skilled and displayed Player-initiated behaviors. However, she had yet to find those Players. Rena had to have a hacker behind her. Their adventure in Cross Cave had been too hectic too far to really ask, but she had healing spells when Expel was a strict no-healing-symbology planet. And she had that special look, the blue hair and the elf ears that self-centered hackers often chose as being exotic and beautiful.

On the other hand, Claude might be a legitimate character, but someone had definitely paid some favors or weaseled some deal to get him. In an immersion setting, a Player could not think beyond what the character would know. No knowledge that came from 4D was allowed to filter into Eternal Sphere unless there was a way to learn it in-game. Since she wasn’t immersed, she knew what was wrong with Claude’s speech. He was an alien to Expel and was using a translator to communicate with the natives. The current Pangalactic translator was extremely good at giving the listeners the speaker’s intentions and nuances. However, they couldn’t lip synch someone using a translator, so their lip movements didn’t match their words.

The thing that really set him apart, though, was the fact that he was Claude Kenni, son of Admiral Roinox Kenni, a war hero and famous Terran explorer of the Pangalactic Federation. And Roinox himself was descended from another famous Terran leader. To top it all off, Roinox’s adventures surrounding a plague on the planet Roark had been shown as one of the most popular epic series of 4D networks. In order to get the son of that star and hero, Claude’s player was either Roinox’s player or someone who had sucked up majorly to him or the Eternal Sphere’s operators. That, or another hacker.

And if those two were both hackers, they would lie low in the OoC forums, enjoying the attention their characters received without stepping up to accept it. Hackers were dealt with severely by the government. Yet, they were still out there, trying to bend the rules of the Eternal Sphere to something that they could profit from.

C.J. had moved her Tria browser to the Expel OoC forums while thinking about them. Still no word from the players of Rena or Claude. However, she saw a familiar name on the visitor’s list. Smiling, she started a chat with him.

* * *

 

-Ashe, 4D

Theo: Hey man, congrats!

 

Leaning forward in his immersion chair, Ashe brushed his black hair aside and grinned. Yet another message which bolstered his excitement. He sent back a quick message saying, “Thanks man, it’s really sweet so far.” Then he tried to remember what he’d checked into Tria for. He checked his profile page

 

_Planet-Expel_

_Character- Ashton Anchors_

_Style- adventure/challenge_

_Quest status- Retrieve Metox from Lasguss Mountains_

_Traveling companions- Bowman, Ernest_

_Play as Ashton?_

 

Oh right, he had to check in with that soon. They’d be arriving at Lasguss soon and this time, he wanted to be there when they found the quest item. According to the linked map, they were almost there. He had a little while longer to wait and chat with people in the OoC forums, so Ashe shifted back after setting an alert for himself.

Right as he did so, he got a message from a familiar name.

 

C.J.: Oh hey, it’s been a while since I saw you last.

 

“Oh my gosh, C.J. is on Expel?” Ashe said to himself.

“Excuse me?” his new robotic butler asked.

He waved it off. “Oh sorry. Actually, could you get me some iced tea? Thanks.”

“Right away.” He soon had a glass of iced tea on the cup holder attachment.

Even something as simple as this was something to be happy about, Ashe thought. He took a drink (it was perfect), then replied to C.J.

 

Ashe: C.J.???!!! Awesome! Yeah, I haven’t seen you since my noob-ish days. Oh, and I’m really sorry if I was a pain about it.

C.J.: (laughs) Oh darling, you weren’t bad enough to qualify as a noob. You were always fun to hang around with. So do you like Expel?

Ashe: Aw yeah, it’s great. I didn’t know you were here, though.

C.J.: It happens. I’m running a dating sim on the Cross continent. What about you?

Ashe: A challenge adventure. I started in Eluria, but I’ve been drifting ever since that Sorcery Globe incident. I’m in the Cross countryside right now, actually, on a quest.

C.J.: Well then we’ll have to find some way to run into each other for old times sake. And my, you’re already on a challenge play through? My little newbie from Elicoor is all grown up.

Ashe: (laughs) True. I’ve even got my own home now! All finished with college and everything.

C.J.: Well congratulations, Ashe! It’s always good to move up in the world.

Ashe: Right on! I’ve got some of my aircraft and seacraft models displayed now, but I’m still not sure how to decorate everything. There’s so much to choose from.

C.J.: That there is. So what kind of challenge are you doing?

Ashe: The Ill Luck character build. His name is Ashton and I’ve gotten him into Heraldic Dueling. It’s really tough, because any time luck decides to intervene, I know that I’m getting screwed. If there’s a million to one chance that a bridge will fail, it probably will if my character walks over it.

C.J.: Oh, that sounds like a tough one. But it gives you great prestige if you can make a hero out of an Ill Luck character.

Ashe: Right, I’m working on that. I’m on this simple herb gathering quest right now, but I should be able to unlock much better quests shortly. And this particular herb quest, well, I wasn’t going to take it, but then I got emotionally involved (blushes).

C.J.: Oo, a pretty girl then?

Ashe: Well not quite…

 

The alert flashed on Ashe’s screen. Action was going to start on the Lasguss quest. Okay, if this quest was going to count towards his prestige, he had to be there when the herb was found.

 

Ashe: Actually, I have to get back into that quest now. Before I go, who’s your character?

C.J.: Celine Jules; she’s from Mars, but you’re more likely to find her at Cross Castle.

Ashe: Well I can’t use that information, but I’ll tag the name. Nice seeing you again!

C.J.: You too. Good luck with your quest.

 

Once that chat was cleared out, Ashe picked the Ashton profile and let himself be immersed. In his own immersion chair, for the first time. That was awesome.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Lasguss Mountain trail

It was a small group, with a single horse-drawn cart and three travelers. Holding the reigns was a nineteen year old youth with black hair and a swordsman’s cloak. Sitting near him and watching out for bandits was a thirty-three year old man with long blond hair and a brown long coat. Finally, a thirty-six year old man with short brown hair was sitting in the bed of the cart. The last had been taking inventory of their supplies. Since everything came up fine, he had brought out a banjo and was playing folk songs to pass the time.

Ashton was supposedly the fighter and guard of this group, but he felt a little unneeded compared to the experts who were traveling with him. Taking a moment to glance back, he said, “You’re pretty good with that banjo, Bowman.”

“It’s a new hobby,” the herbalist said. “If you want your mind to stay sharp, always learn new things no matter how old you get.”

The young swordsman looked back to the road ahead. It was sloped now. Not enough to trouble the horse or cart yet, but there was a drop off that would be dangerous to slide off. And knowing his accursed luck, he’d better keep his wits about him while driving the cart. “I’ll remember that.”

The blond man put his hand on Ashton’s shoulder. “Not much for ruins around this area, it seems, but someone’s come this way recently.”

“How can you tell, Ernest?”

He pointed out scrub brush alongside the path. “Look for the small signs; branches not laying right, for one. This ground isn’t good for footprints, but it looks disturbed.”

A short time later, Ernest’s observations held true. They came upon a young man, not much older than Ashton, taking a break by a mountain creek. He had long blue hair, but sharp red eyes that took in everything with a harsh seriousness. The sheath of his sword was hidden under his short blue cape. Somewhere between wary and aloof, he observed them approaching.

Ernest, though, gave him a warm smile and a wave of his hand. “Howdy traveler. What’re you doing out here?”

“Training,” he replied. “And you?”

“Searching for some healing herbs. You want to travel with us for some time? The monsters in these mountains are very tough.”

“That’s why I’m here alone,” the swordsman replied. He then went up the creek, climbing up the cliff face to get on an upper level.

“Not very social, was he?” Ashton said as he got off to remove the bit from the horse’s mouth. Might as well take advantage of this stream.

“Some people are like that,” Bowman said. “Often they have tragic pasts that they don’t want to inflict on anyone else.”

After taking care of the horses, the three carried on. Ashton let Bowman take the reigns as the herbalist needed to look out for the proper fields. In the meantime, Ashton spoke some more with Ernest. He was really a friendly guy, if quite odd. “But treasure hunters explore ancient ruins all the time,” he pointed out.

“They’re just looking for material treasures,” Ernest said, with disdain. “I’m looking for something more valuable: knowledge. I want to know who built the old ruins, how, and for what purpose. That’s what makes me an archaeologist. History has a wealth of things to tell us, and we miss out on a lot of wisdom by ignoring it.”

“This place looks good,” Bowman interrupted, halting the horses. “Ernest, would you stay here and guard the cart? Ashton, come with me.”

“Sure thing,” Ernest said, getting off and beginning an inspection of the cart, horses, and immediate area.

“Okay,” Ashton replied and followed Bowman into the large field. On one side, a rock face rose far above them, disrupted only by a small waterfall on the northern end. On the other eastern side, there was a sheer drop off that went down into rocky valleys. But here, there was an abundance of tough grasses, herbs, brush, and even a stubborn old tree. The waterfall led to a creek larger than the one they had stopped at earlier in the day.

The herbalist began sweeping his eyes over the low-lying plants. Every now and then, he bent down to touch a leaf of some plant or another, but didn’t find any he approved of. Ashton knew some about herbs, but only the common ones. They were looking for the rare Metox herb. After a while, Bowman waved to him. “Ashton, come over here.”

“Did you find something?” he asked, walking over.

“Not exactly what we want, but look at this.” He knelt down and carefully held onto a small purple flower with five petals.

“Is that a crocus?” Ashton asked. “It’s a bit late for those, isn’t it?”

Bowman nodded. “Right, this kind of crocus is always the first bloom of the year. But it’s late spring, not early. And right next to it,” he then took a bright yellow flower with many petals and a bulging center, “is a summer daisy. This tells me that we’re in the right place to find Metox. The old folks call it ‘breath of the phoenix’. One sign that you’re in the territory of a phoenix is this, many flowers blooming out of season in an otherwise harsh environment. Keep an eye out for a three leaf herb; it’ll be about the size of your hand outstretched and dark green when you first see it.”

“I’ll help you look.”

But even after looking over the field carefully, they didn’t spot any Metox. Bowmen led them up to another field for another search. As this one was smaller, Ernest helped out, but only by the cart. Ashton went over to look by the waterfall. He stepped on an odd purple rock to cross over. Only, it wasn’t a rock, and it lifted up as he put his weight on it. Ashton stumbled ahead, barely managing to catch himself from hitting his head against the rock face. As he turned around, drawing both swords, he saw a strange balloon creature with impish eyes.

“There’s a strange looking monster,” Ashton said aloud as he got into a ready stance.

“No kidding,” Ernest called. “Need help?”

“E-hehehehe,” a high pitched giggle interrupted them. A fae witch popped into the meadow, looking uncannily human in a pastel green dress and pointed hat. But her eyes were demonic, full white and glowing. “Balooney’s found some folks to play with! Come out, come out.”

“Sccraaawww!” A flying manta dove down, bearing a wolf man on its back. The wolf man jumped off and added a savage howl of his own.

“Now I do,” Ashton said. Gathering thunder energy to his blades, he swept both of them down onto the balloon enemy. It initiated Lightning Strike, so he brought his right blade up to his left shoulder, crossed the left blade down diagonally past his right hip, and then slashed with the left blade with a step forward. Finishing the Strike, his right blade crashed down with a flash of thunder magic as he took a long step around the enemy to the left and turned to the right. His sword style of heraldic dueling required grace and skill, akin to dancing. Very dangerous dancing.

It defeated the balloon monster in one strike. Ashton heard the crack of Ernest’s whip. While it had seemed like a flimsy weapon at first, the archaeologist wielded it with deft skill against the flying manta. The dueler turned to see that Bowman had been challenged by the wolf man. Although he was an herbalist, he was apparently a skilled boxer as well, dodging more punches than his foe was. That left the fae witch.

“You’re not supposed to win!” she shrieked. She was at the other end of the field, preparing a spell. Due to heraldry, she could strike any one of them from her position.

However, Ashton could do the same. This time, he summoned the power of the fields to trigger Leaf Slash. In response to his blades curving motions, the winds kicked up around him, blowing up leaves and loose grasses. Then he merged with the wind; it had taken months and months of practice for him to master this particular skill, but it made him seem to vanish from the battle field. The wind swept him to the fae’s location, where he struck her with both blades, one infused with the wind and one infused with the leaves and grass.

Badly hurt, the fae witch wailed and set up teleporting circles around herself and her three minions. “I hope you suffer for this!” she taunted, then vanished with them to recover elsewhere.

“We ought to leave this field for now,” Bowman said. “She could call more allies of hers here. Are you both okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ashton said. He took one last look around, though.

“I’m good,” Ernest added.

Ashton knelt down, though. There was something dark green growing alongside the cliff wall. “Hey Bowman, this plant looks like what you were describing.”

“Does it? Let me see.” He came over and checked it out, rubbing his fingers against the leaves and smelling it. “Hmm…”

“Is it Metox?”

He shook his head. “No. Still, it is a nice find. This is Clarisage; it grows in shady cool places like this and it has a distinct smell when you rub your fingers against it. Actually, this would help for the cure. I was going to use dried Clarisage, but fresh leaves will be much better.” He brought out a small pair of scissors and carefully clipped a few leaves. Using some simple plant magic, he placed a tiny crest on the leaves so that they kept fresh longer.

“If it helps Eleanor, that’s good,” Ashton said.

But they needed Metox to heal her. If they couldn’t find it, then this search was no good. And if they didn’t find it fast enough, she would die.


	4. Two Dungeons

-Celine, Cross Cave

The only way to tell it was morning in Cross Cave was that it was when everyone was waking up. The group had settled near a cluster of flower-shaped crystals, which glowed faint green. After a shared breakfast of granola, they continued on. “Is something the matter, Rena darling?” Celine asked.

She brushed her hair back. “Not much. I don’t feel fully awake yet.”

“It’s probably mental fatigue; you were casting a lot of spells yesterday.” She dug into her bag and found some dried blackberries. “Here, this should help.”

“Thank you.” She ate a couple, then added, “I normally don’t use that many spells in one day, just the occasional heal when someone in the village got hurt.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about it. How did you learn healing by magic? There’s no such crest in heraldry.”

“None?” Claude asked.

Celine nodded. “The closest I know of is the vampire health stealing spells, but that’s a different sort. Your healing doesn’t hurt anyone. Where did you learn about heraldry, Claude? It’s basic knowledge what can’t be done.”

His face turned pink. “Well I hadn’t learned much about symbols.”

“They’re crests, darling. Calling them symbols is simply uncouth.”

“Sorry.”

“I don’t know when I learned my powers,” Rena interrupted, saving her friend from further embarrassment. “I’ve been able to use heal for as long as I can remember.”

Intrigued by this, Celine looked over Rena. However, her outfit was modest and well covering. “Really? Do you have a crest tattooed somewhere? In my village, tradition has us always start by being tattooed on the back of the hands, like the handmaidens of Tria.” She held out her long-fingered hands; the right was tattooed with a thunder crest, while the left was tattooed with a fire crest.

“No, I haven’t been tattooed,” Rena said. She put her hand to her mouth, then seemed to brighten. She slipped a necklace off and showed it to Celine. “I do have this. I was found in Shingo Forest when I was very young; this pendant and my crescent hairpin were with me and I wear them all the time.”

“Some jewelry can teach spells, but usually only to skilled magic users.” She pulled Rena over to one of the glowing crystals and looked over the pendant. It was a teardrop shaped stone of a milky green color, attached with a silver-like metal to the thin silver chain. When Celine touched it, a feeling like maternal love soaked into her skin. It just had that peaceful protected emotion linked to it. As for the hairpin… it just seemed to be a hairpin, made of polished copper. “Unless the crests are very tiny, I’m not sure about it. It is a kind of magic. I can feel that.”

“Does it look familiar? I mean, the style or anything?”

She shook her head. “No. It’s simple, so it’s hard to pin down a maker. This stone is unusual. You don’t find that in many places.”

“Like where?” She seemed to realize all the questions she was asking, so smiled bashfully as she put the pendant back on. “Sorry about all the questions, but I want to find my real parents.”

“It’s fine, I can understand that. I think it’s called Energy Stone. It’s found on Hoffman Island mostly. But you also hear of small deposits being found in Salva Drift in the old days. You have to refine it, though, as it emits a demonic kind of energy in its pure form. Unfortunately, you lose power in refining it. That seems to be refined, so you’re okay.”

“Obviously, since I’ve had it for years. I know about Energy Stones.” She looked thoughtful, a bit sad too.

“That hairpin looks like the sort fashionable around Salva and Herlie, but you probably knew that.”

In the meantime, Claude and Chris were discussing fighting techniques. It was interesting to watch the two of them. Claude obviously had experience and training with a sword, but all he knew were the basic moves. In contrast, Chris had an admirable amount of training in the basics and many sword and crossbow techniques, but sorely lacked experience against living monsters. His form was much more graceful than Claude’s, but Claude was clearly the stronger of the two. And while the two looked like strange twins, the small differences beyond clothing were more noticeable to their companions. There was Claude’s odd manner of speech and then there was Chris’ more refined manners, that of a nobleman.

After some travel, Claude spoke up. “I think there’s some trouble up around here.”

Celine had noticed that herself. Since she was the most experienced of the group, she wanted to see what her younger companions thought. “True. What makes you say that?”

“It seems quiet here,” Rena said.

“And that’s the problem,” Claude replied. “Yesterday, we encountered monsters in every hall and cavern, and you could always hear them growling or hissing in the shadows. There’s nothing today. Either there’s some danger around or there’s something stronger than they are.”

“Something stronger than the previous monsters?” Chris asked, grasping his crossbow in nervousness.

Celine gripped his arm. “I’m sure we can handle it. But we should stay alert. Besides, we’re near the new room on this map.”

They followed the hall and came to a tall circular cavern. In the center of it, there was a massive growth of red-violet crystal; some of it even swirled up around the rest. The tall crystal filled the room with soft lavender light, oddly soothing for being in such a dangerous cave. According to the map, there was a hallway leading from this room. But it seemed to be completely closed off, with only the hall they had entered from.

After searching around for a while, they still couldn’t find a hall. “It’s a dead end,” Rena said, not particularly helpful.

Celine had the map out. “But this is where the map leads, and the main treasure room is just past it… what a bore, it was such an expensive map.”

Claude looked up at the crystal, then turned to her. “Celine, may I see that map again? I just thought of something.”

“Certainly, if you can figure something new out.” She passed the brown parchment to him.

After a minute, he pointed to just below the room they were in. “Look carefully here… you can see it faintly by this crystal’s glow. There’s some writing here. I can’t quite read it, though.”

“Is there?” She took the map back and angled it to the crystal’s glow. A shine appeared, followed by small letters. “Why so there is. It speaks of a spell… it could unlock the hidden passage! I’ll try this.”

Celine moved closer to the crystal to see the words better. After a bit, she recognized the written crest as one of the wind element. Wind wasn’t her strong suite, but she could use it. Focusing the magic of wind to her right hand, she traced the crest in the air with her fingers. The crest glowed in faint green for a bit before deciding to accept her command. The still air of the cavern was stirred up, swirling around the tall crystal. While it was too weak to use for battle, the spell made part of the wall tremble. An echo of the crest appeared there, then slammed a good chunk of the rock aside to reveal a hidden passage. A bright yellow light came from within.

“It worked,” Chris said, surprised.

“Wonderful,” Celine said, beaming. “Let’s go check it out.”

“There could be the stronger monsters,” Claude reminded them, keeping a hold on his simple sword.

Past the curved hall, they came upon a room that was much different than the rest of Cross Cave. There were no monsters, although there was a menacing pair of gargoyles near the entrance. Overhead, there was a large globe that emitted the strong yellow light they had seen; it was enough to make the deep cavern seem like a bright sunny day. In front of them, there was a star shaped table that looked to be made of heavy glass or crystal. It was in two layers with various crests written on both surfaces. There were a few items around, nothing obviously a treasure. But sometimes the best treasures were not obvious.

Rena looked fascinated. “Wow, I wonder what this room was used for. It’s so strange.”

“It doesn’t look like an altar,” Chris noted, looking over the star-shaped table. “It kind of reminds me of a conference room. But why so deep in the cave?”

Looking over the items, Celine could discount a few as being typical treasures. But there was something on the other end of the table which was unusual. It was an old leather-bound book. Some of the paint was flaking, but it seemed the cover had been printed with gold in an elaborate pattern. “Oh, this is fascinating.”

“A book?” Chris asked, walking over to her.

“A very old book. And look, it has a tree of life pattern on the front.” She opened the book and looked at the script. It was hand done and legible, but… “I can’t read this.”

Chris looked over the book too, but he couldn’t read it. Neither could Rena or Claude. “It must be ancient to have writing like this,” Chris said. “Is there any way we could get it translated? I’d be interested in knowing what it said.”

“We could ask the elders of Mars,” Celine said. “We’ll have to take this carefully, so it doesn’t become damaged.” She tucked it into her bag.

After some more looking around, Chris found a pair of silver rings. Celine checked them out, but they weren’t enchanted or cursed. Since they were just pretty silver rings, he took them. Claude and Rena found some basic treasures, which they were allowed to keep. It would help them on their journey through Eluria. But as they went to leave the room, the two gargoyles stretched out their wings and howled. Their stone skin turned from dark gray to a yellow-brown.

Celine gripped her crystal rod. In their group, they had one short range fighter, two magic wielders, and one long range fighter. Gargoyles left as guards like this were typically short range, but could fly faster than one would think. Two could trap a single fighter and hurt him badly, perhaps even kill. “Claude, you take one of them. I’ll fight the other, while you two back me up.”

“Celine?” Chris asked, worried.

“It’s safer that way,” she said as she gathered fire energy to her rod. Holding it in both hands, she smashed it over the nearest gargoyle’s head. The resulting ‘thud’ and ringing of her metal rod were not that loud. These must have been softer rock gargoyles. Relieved at that, Celine brought her rod up to block the gargoyle from taking a chomp at her face.

There was a blast of wind energy near her as Claude used one of his new sword techniques, Air Slash. Shortly after, there was a sparkling crossbow bolt which struck the foe’s wings. A web of sparks flashed across the gargoyle nearest to her, forcing it out of the air. That would have been Chris’ Sparkler, which had a high chance of paralysis. Since it wouldn’t be able to move, Celine stepped back as Rena added Press, which dropped a large metal anvil on the gargoyle’s head, only to have it disappear before it fell on Celine’s toes. Magic sometimes picked up on a sense of humor from its user.

Now free to use her magic, Celine drew the crest of Energy Arrow in the air, causing large violet slashes of energy to pierce the gargoyle. Then there came a shout of “Arrow Rain!” from Chris. Celine knew that was more to warn her to get out of the way, as a single bolt from his crossbow turned into a thousand. As Arrow Rain could not be aimed at a single target, anyone in the target zone would be hit. When it hit, the gargoyle screamed before being turned to dust.

She turned to check on Claude in time to see him decapitate the gargoyle he was facing. That didn’t always work. This time, it had taken enough damage already to turn into dust. The blond haired man turned to them, then smiled. “That was intense, but it seems we’re all okay.”

“Oh good,” Rena said.

“Still, things like these gargoyles are known to come back together after some time,” Celine said. “Let’s head out; we can take the direct route through the cave.”

After more hours of walking and fighting monsters, the four came out of Cross Cave just as the sun was low in the western sky. Since any effort to reach a town would end up with them traveling in the dark, they decided to set up camp by the entrance of the cave. One of the last monsters they had fought was safe to eat, so Celine cleaned up the carcass and Rena cooked the meat.

“Seriously, neither of you boys has experience in gutting and cleaning a monster?” Celine teased them. She was cleaning off her hands in a nearby pool. Her clothes would take serious attention later on, but she could get rid of the most visible signs of meat bits and blood.

“I always had servants around,” Chris admitted. “And my parents weren’t big into game hunting.”

“I, um,” Claude started, but his voice drifted off into uncertainty. Oddly enough, he glanced up at the sky. “I was a soldier, of sorts, but I was never taught that.”

“You’ve been in the military?” Chris asked, interested. “Which country? And why don’t you have your equipment?”

“It’s complicated; I can’t really tell you.”

“Oh, one of those secret positions?” Celine said. “I suppose we can’t really ask you about that.”

“Right,” he replied, turning his eyes back to them and showing relief. “As for my equipment, one piece is broken and I’ve lost the rest. It’s been a rough trip.”

“I just hope you’re not here planning an invasion of Cross,” Chris said. He paused a bit, then shrugged. “National loyalty, you know?”

“I understand. No, nothing like that. I can’t say what, though.”

“Hmm.” Celine dried off her hands with a weak fire spell, then came back to the main campfire. “I’m planning on heading to Mars to see about the book we found. So you two would be heading to Clik then.”

“Right,” Claude said.

“We could travel with you to Mars at least,” Rena said. “It’s on the crossroads, isn’t it?”

“Yes, between Herlie, Clik, and Cross Castle.”

“I should probably go back to the castle town,” Chris said, with a slight pause after castle. “But I’d like to see Mars sometime.”

After the meal, Chris asked Celine to come talk with him in private. They went back into the cave a little ways, not enough to get the attention of monsters inside, but enough to get out of hearing of the two by the campfire. She put her hand on his shoulder. “What is it, lovey? You look troubled.”

“It’s…” he looked down and struggled with his words for a moment. “Celine, I love you. I truly do. I couldn’t really describe it, just the way you think, the fun we have just talking over tea, and your beauty... the days seem brighter when I’m with you and if I could, I would marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. That would be simply wonderful and it’s what I want… but it can’t be like that.”

All at once, Celine was delighted, afraid, and saddened by what he was saying. It was clear from his tone and expressions that he was upset too, but felt out of control of the situation. “Why not? I love you too and I would be so happy if I were your wife.”

A smile started across his face, but it disappeared quickly. “I’m glad to know, and yet… I’m sorry, but I haven’t been fully honest with you. My name isn’t Chris, although I wish it were. And… I’m already engaged to someone else.”

“You are?” Some bitterness prickled within her heart. This wouldn’t be the first time a man had used her and lied to her. But she wanted to believe that Chris was truly naïve and this wasn’t entirely his fault. He wasn’t like the others.

He grimaced. “It’s a political marriage. I still remember when I was seven and we took a trip to Lacour when she was just a baby. I was told to sign an agreement to the marriage when she was sixteen, but that was all I did. All the arrangements were made before she was born and I haven’t seen her since.”

“That young?” Celine asked, curiosity holding back anger for now.

“It’s… No. I’m really Prince Clothier Cross and I’m supposed to marry Rozelia Lacour soon. She was supposed to arrive yesterday. But I just could not keep my mind and heart off you, so I ran before the staff could find out. They don’t know about us.”

Celine put her hand to her face. “You’re the prince? How could I not notice? I just thought you belonged to a noble family that didn’t want you with a sorceress.”

Chris put his arm around her. “I don’t think I could be truly happy unless I was with you. I want to keep running and be with you. But I just can’t. The marriage was arranged as part of a peace treaty between Cross and Lacour. Eluria wasn’t involved, but they’ve been watching us with caution, at least until the Sorcery Globe incident. You must have noticed that there’s been no war the past sixteen years. It was supposed to be that the marriage would cement a solid bond between our countries, eventually merging because both kings have been in fading health in the past few years. And then Eluria would make peace with us, since they couldn’t fight both other continents combined. The whole world would be at peace, which would make the people happy and safe. So I have to marry Rozelia, for the sake of our country’s future.”

That was true. Celine felt quite humbled by this idea of the world being united and at peace. But even if it made everyone else happy, she wouldn’t be happy.

Feeling the same, Chris clenched his fists even if he looked defeated. “But then I think again that I couldn’t ever be as happy with Rozelia as I would be with you. I don’t want to start another series of wars, but everything would be so dreary without you. That kind of marriage sounds like drudgery. And… I really couldn’t ever see you again. I don’t want to be one of those kings that sacrifices his people and lands for his own gain. I want to be a king that sets a good example for the people, loyal and true. But then I wouldn’t be true to myself and… I just don’t know if I have the strength to do that. I can’t be weak enough to run away, though.” He blinked his eyes and a pair of tears ran down his cheeks.

“Oh Chris,” she said, even though she was uncertain of what to say herself. She wasn’t sure if it was right, but she hugged him. If she loved him… she had to support him, even if that meant breaking things off. He soon had his arms around her and was crying on her shoulder, apologizing repeatedly.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Lasguss Mountains

So far, their search had been fruitless. The phoenix’s mountain had many little fields and meadows tucked away on its rocky face, but the three were getting higher and higher. Eventually, there would be no more fields to search.

Ashton watched the fire that night, thinking. About two months ago, he had met a little girl named Eleanor in Herlie. Only seven years old, she was highly imaginative and intelligent. She was a frail one, though, suffering from a slow degrading illness. She’d never been out of her hometown, barely able to make it outside. However, she longed for an adventurous life. After having proven himself trustworthy, Ashton got into a habit of visiting her to tell her stories of his adventures.

A week ago, she’d taken a turn for the worse. This was despite the arrival of Bowman Jean, a famed herbalist and healer from Lacour. Having heard about Eleanor’s plight from a traveler, he had come out to see her himself. Bowman had been the one to suggest finding the Metox for a special medicine that could cure her completely. He had chosen to take Ashton with him, as he had come to care for the little girl’s future as well.

So here they were, all the way across the Cross continent with a peculiar traveler they had met along the way. Despite their best efforts, it seemed to be in vain. They didn’t have long, though. Eleanor might even be dead by now.

Ashton closed his eyes. No, he couldn’t think of that. He had to hope that she would be okay. It was such a shame to lose life at such a young age. If he could do something, he had to do it. He hadn’t been able to do anything before, back in Eluria.

His stomach squirmed at remembering that. To keep his mind off that, he looked over to Ernest. Bowman was asleep. “Hey, um… I don’t mean to be rude, but can I ask you something?”

A playful smile came to his face. “It’s fine. What do you want to know?”

“Well why do you talk so oddly? I can’t figure out the accent, although I know what you’re saying all right. And is that really a third eye?”

Ernest’s smile widened as he looked in Ashton’s direction. With all three black eyes. They were so odd. The two lower ones were normal and all right, but that third one sat centered above them, on his forehead. And it moved exactly like the others, so it wasn’t just some odd decoration. “I’m from a strange place. How I talk comes across as normal to me, while your words are odd to me. And about the eye, it’s a heraldry thing.”

He sat up. “Really? I didn’t know magic could make you grow a third eye. I mean, you see the odd monster from time to time with three eyes. Maybe that’s why.”

“Could be, could be.”

“But you don’t use magic.”

“Not very often. What I can do is a little dangerous, more so for anyone that happens to be around me. I avoid it when I can.”

“I see.” He stretched his arms out and glanced up…

…and saw a large bird flying overhead. There was a glow like a green fire on its wings. Was that the Lasguss phoenix?

Ashton watched it for a bit, then looked down. Ernest was stirring up the fire, adding another log so that it could run all night and keep the local monsters away. From the look of things, he hadn’t seen the phoenix, or noticed Ashton’s gaze at the sky.

“Pardon me,” Ashton said, getting up. “I’m going to take a short walk around.”

Ernest nodded absentmindedly. It seemed he had his own things to think about.

Even later, he couldn’t recall why he had gone off without telling Ernest why. Or telling him anything about the phoenix. It was like he had some inner knowledge that the phoenix would not meet with two. What he did know was that if the Metox was said to be the breath of the phoenix, it might be fastest to ask the phoenix itself for the herb.

Ashton walked off a short ways before thinking that he didn’t know where the phoenix kept its nest. Maybe if he got to a higher point, he could get its attention. As he looked over the pillars of rock around, he came to one where he caught a strong scent of herbs. It was a mix, mostly lavender and wolfsbane, but there were hints of other herbs mingling. He found a good spot and began climbing the pillar.

After a moderate climb, he came to a higher plateau. There was a nest here, but not like the small ones that could be held in one hand. This nest was huge, coming up to his waist and stretching out a good twenty feet across. As he touched it, he noticed that it was entirely made from herbs and scented wood. It led to a heady perfume that seemed to both enthrall him and revitalize his energy, just by smelling it. An odd thought came into his mind; he wondered how it would smell when the phoenix set it alit.

A small gust from large wings being beaten interrupted his thoughts. The Lasguss phoenix landed in its nest and looked down at Ashton. By the light of the moon and its own fire, he could see that it was forest green and dark silver in plumage. But it was over twice his height, created its own fires about its wings, and had the beak and visage of a bird of prey. Ashton felt a deep dread as he came face to face with an immortal creature.

“What do you come here for, human creature?” the phoenix asked in a deep dark voice. “I am XINE, king of these mountains. This is not a place for you.” It spoke its name with a strange effect. While the rest of its words were normal, XINE spoke his name with a sound like a thousand echoes in a small room.

Trying not to tremble, Ashton stepped back and bowed. “I-I don’t mean to disturb you, XINE your Highness.” He put his hands to his mouth. Had he just done the strange echo thing too?

He had the impression that the phoenix was smirking. “I am so powerful that even my name is magic. Now that you know this for yourself, state your name, rank, and purpose for being here.”

You’re doing this for Eleanor, he reminded himself. “I am Ashton Anchors of Eluria, formerly an apprentice to Sir Russell Anchors of the King’s Knights. I’m just a traveling swordsman now. I came here with two others in search of the herb Metox.”

XINE snorted. “And what makes you think that you deserve such an exclusive herb?”

Clasping his hands together, Ashton did his best to look meek. “It is not for me, your Highness, nor my companions. It is for a young girl named Eleanor who lives in Herlie. She has the white death at her bedside.”

“Why should one little girl matter? Many people have the white death. It is only natural. Why does she matter?”

“She doesn’t deserve to die so young. She has a lot of promise; she’s smart and very friendly. She could do great things in the future.”

“Or, she could not. Death does not listen to such things. Death takes away all, deserving or not. She is not even your kin. Why should she be saved?”

His fear getting overtaken by anger, Ashton threw his hands back and forgot any pretense of being meek. “Why shouldn’t she matter?! If you can do something to save another person pain, why not do it? You should take the chance, no matter who it is. I might not be able to heal her myself, but I’ll do all that I can to help those who can. But you probably can’t understand it, since you never are affected by death.”

“SILENCE!” XINE called, putting the echoes behind that word. Ashton felt like his throat had been clamped shut and he struggled to breathe. The phoenix flapped his wings once, but stayed. “It is true that I will not die according to your schedule. Nevertheless, I know other mortals. I too am affected by death. But I am meant for a life of solitude. I have the power to dispel such illnesses, but if I were to heal often, you human creatures would never strive to find your own cures and knowledge. And you would never leave me alone, which would drive me to madness and war.”

The phoenix spoke war with a narrowing of his eyes and a tone of hostility that made Ashton aware that he would be foolish to challenge XINE to a battle. It was quiet for a minute while XINE looked right at him. Although frightened and still having great pressure on every breath he took, Ashton looked back, trying to appear determined. It was something hard to do against such a large creature, now that his anger had left him.

“I know what your purpose in this quest is, Ashton of Eluria,” XINE spoke finally. “You wish to prove that you are not worthless. You will do anything to save another, but it will never be entirely for that other’s sake. You knew people who died when the Sorcery Globe landed, but you saw many more be driven to madness in the following days and you could do nothing about it. You could never be sure if the demons haven’t implanted similar seeds of madness within you. And you had to fight your own father, who was turned into a demon.”

Ashton paled.

“I know these things when I look into your heart. The demons have not touched you, although whether by oversight or maliciousness I do not know, so you need not fear madness. And there truly was nothing you could do back in Eluria. The Sorcery Globe is a power not of this world; I recognize it not. I also see that you will not be satisfied even if the girl is saved. You may be glad for her sake, and you may continue to fool lesser creatures than I, in that you adjust to life and move on. But no matter how much progress you make, no matter how many people you save, the memory will still be there. The memory of helplessness will continue to drive you on and it will never let you feel worthy, unless you can overcome yourself. You may not understand this fully now, but you should strive for that instead.

“As for the Metox, I only give it to those who meet my judgment and take it to heart. It seems that my words have not fallen on deaf ears this time. Therefore, I will allow you to take it. But the white death is persistent. If you want to make sure that she survives and grows strong, I can arrange for that to happen. However, there will be a price that you must pay. Will you take it?”

His heart pounded, although Ashton wasn’t sure if it was from what XINE was saying or from his lungs still struggling. He put his right hand to his chest. Even though he wanted to agree, he found himself speechless.

“Oh right. I apologize.”

The clenching magic released its hold on Ashton and he gasped for a moment. The myriad of scents from XINE’s nest seemed to fill his body, making his head seem like it would float away. Focusing on keeping it attached, he said, “I will accept it.”

The phoenix cawed softly. “Good. Had you asked, I would have refused the deal. I will name the price later. Take this Metox and get it to the girl. Then, leave town alone and I will tell you what must be done.” He took a deep breath, then blew gently over Ashton.

Strangely, Ashton felt like he was standing right next to a roaring bonfire. The heat was enough to make his eyes water. He brought his hands up and a strange glow appeared. It settled into a dark green herb with three leaves, about as broad as his hand outstretched. But it was peculiar beyond that. It had a texture like velvet and a smell like a camp fire. And as he moved it, its color changed slightly to dark blue-violet, then back to green.

Smiling, he bowed again. “Thank you, your Highness. We will get this to Eleanor quic…”

He’d been walking back as he was speaking and accidentally slipped on a pile of loose rock. It caused him to go falling straight off the rock cliff. After a shock of hard pain, he blacked out.

* * *

 

-Ashe, 4D

The immersion chair let Ashe go unexpectedly. The young man gasped for a minute. Although it was just a simulation, the sensations clung to him: the heat of XINE’s breath, the fiery scent of the Metox, the slip of the rocks under his feet, and the fall through thin air. He leaned forward to hold his head in his hands. This wasn’t the first time that his character had fallen unconscious in the Eternal Sphere. It was still a nasty shock.

“Do not fear,” his robotic butler said, coming into the room with a glass of water. “You are safe.” It held the water up for him.

“I know, I am.” He took the glass in his trembling hands and took a long drink. Well he had been there to claim the Metox himself. He wondered what the ‘price’ would be. He hoped it was another quest. At this point in the play through, he could use all the prestige he could get.

But the words of the phoenix had struck him too. It would never be for the other’s sake. And, about Ashton’s father… that still struck a nerve with Ashe, as if it had been his own father instead. He had really liked the character of Russell, so to see him succumb to the call of the demons and have to use his own sword techniques against him, it had been horrible. Ashe had asked for a week off from classes after having been at that battle himself. The school had given him a month and constant social support. However, when he went back into character as Ashton, he was alone again.

“Ashe, did something bad happen within the Sphere?” the robotic butler asked. “I can arrange for an amnesia specialist to remove any unwanted memories.”

They had offered that repeatedly before. But it wouldn’t fully go away. Ashe might not remember it while in 4D, but when his mind went into Ashton, he would remember it once again. “It’s fine, I can handle it. I want to wait until I can get back into character; I have something to tell the others who were playing with me.”

“Very well. Do not hesitate to ask for anything.”

After a few minutes, the Tria browser informed him that Ashton was coming around. Ashe sat back to be reimmersed, bracing his mind for the pain that would return.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Lasguss Mountains, XINE’s peak

A strong but dull ache coursed through Ashton’s awareness as he became alert again. His mind wasn’t quite sure what had just happened. He was… talking to XINE, then he had slipped and… he must have fallen off the height that he had climbed. Could he move?

“Hold still there,” he heard Ernest say. The three-eyed man came into a blurry view as Ashton opened his eyes. “You’re lucky you didn’t break any bones, but you’re not quite ready to move yet. Bowman’s over making you a medicine. Just stay there quietly for now.”

A few agonizing minutes later, Bowman came over with a metal cup. “This isn’t going to be pleasant, but it will dull the pain and help your body heal. You need to drink all of this.”

As Ernest helped him sit up, Ashton nodded and took the cup. Pain arced across his shoulders as he did so. Inside the cup was a liquid that looked like watery milk. It certainly didn’t smell like milk. Deciding to drink it quickly, he put it to his mouth and did so. It tasted chalky and strange. But Bowman was an expert. If he said it would help, then it would.

“Wait here for it to kick in, then we’ll move you back to the campsite,” Bowman added.

“Okay.” He looked down at himself and realized something. “What happened to the Metox?”

“I’ve got it back over with my collection. Where did you find it? You could have woken me up for that, or been more careful.”

“Sorry. I got it from the phoenix.”

Ernest brightened. “You met the phoenix? Magnificent.”

Bowman didn’t look so enthusiastic. “Maybe magnificent in that you’re alive and relatively unhurt. The Lasguss phoenix is known to have a bitter attitude towards humans and has killed those he deems unworthy of meeting him. That’s why some also call it a demon bird. He probably considers this amusing.”

“Probably. He was very harsh to me before he gave it to me; it surprised me.” A strange sensation came over Ashton’s body them, a feeling like he was disconnecting from his body. But it also disconnected him from the pain. “I think it’s working now.”

“Okay then, let’s go. Not too fast.” The two men helped him up, then over to his sleeping bag at the campsite. It wasn’t long after he got in that he fell asleep.

* * *

 

-Ashe, 4D

As he came back out of the immersion chair, his robot announced, “It will be time for dinner shortly.”

“All right, thanks.” He took a moment to shake off the immersion feelings again. Most days it was easy. But then sometimes he got so into character that he had moments of doubt when he came back to 4D. Those days, it was like his real life wasn’t here.

The browser screen shifted over to show an alert. ‘Player Jeb (Bowman Jean) wishes to speak with you. Open chat channel?’

He accepted it and added Jeb to his accepted contacts list. ‘Hi, good to speak with you,’ he typed.

 

Jeb: You too. You all right? Serious injuries like that mess with my head when I get back.

Ashe: It was much worse when I fell unconscious. I’m a bit woozy now.

Jeb: Okay, just wanted to check. Hey, but it’s been fun playing with you. Nice to see someone taking heraldic dueling seriously.

Ashe: Thanks. I always liked it and it really bugged me when people called it just a flash in the pan. It’s been fun playing with you two guys too. By the way, do you know the guy with the three-eyed character?

Jeb: :D Yup. He’s actually another character of mine.

Ashe: Really? So you had two characters in that one quest.

Jeb: I didn’t mean for it to happen. Ernest’s not supposed to be on that planet anyhow. I just let one go auto when they’re together. We’ll probably separate after we get back to Herlie.

Ashe: Right. So what race is Ernest? I don’t remember it.

Jeb: He’s from Tetragenes. They’re a pretty interesting race, I think.

Ashe: you’re lucky you’re on a symbology using planet, or you wouldn’t be able to get away with that magic explanation :).

Jeb: Yeah, but he can’t just hide his top eye under a hat or something. Tetragenes actually have their sense of balance connected to that eye; if it gets covered, they get dizzy.

Ashe: Weird, but I guess it makes sense. So what is he doing here?

Jeb: He’s obsessed with archaeology and travels from planet to planet looking for OoPAs and advanced ancient cultures. He ended up stranded here when his ship broke down. I have all the parts to fix it and it wouldn’t take long, but Ernest found out about places like Mountain Palace and Hoffman Ruins and well, he’s still there.

Ashe: Hah! Won’t somebody come looking for him?

Jeb: Probably. I know just who would too. At any rate, we’ve got a long trip back. It’s gonna be a little tough on you, since your character is injured. But it’s in good company, so it shouldn’t be bad.

Ashe: Yeah, that’s true. I’ve got to sign off soon. Do you mind if I add you as a friend?

Jeb: Nah, go right ahead. Talk to you later.

Ashe: Sure thing.

 

Once Tria accepted Jeb to Ashe’s friend list, he left his game room to eat dinner.


	5. A Girl's Dream

-C.J., 4D

Saige: So my character Solene is married now :D.

Jenna: oh sweet! Who’s the guy?

Saige: He’s a fisherman, but I’m pretty sure this sim will stay faithful. I told my husband he ought to learn from this guy.

Jenna: haha, so true. I’m still working on getting some special guy’s notice.

C.J.: I just learned that the guy my character is dating is a prince.

Saige: What??!! How did you get so lucky?

Jenna: Wow, amazing. And you didn’t even notice.

C.J.: I didn’t know he was until he told me. I haven’t got him secured yet, though.

Jenna: you ought to stick by him. It is so rare for a dating sim to acquire a royal partner without cheating or arranging.

Saige: did you arrange things?

C.J.: No, he’s an NPC as far as I know.

Jenna: So what’re you gonna do to keep him?

 

C.J. paused in her typing. She wasn’t sure what to do. Getting a prince involved in one’s dating sim was incredibly rare if it happened at random. But then with the doctor’s restrictions, she wouldn’t be able to play as Celine much longer if she somehow got Chris. That would require switching from a dating sim to a life, love, or family sim. And there was the political situation that he had talked about. Politics in the Eternal Sphere were a big matter. If she helped trigger a war on Expel by marrying Chris, some players would hate her for disrupting their peaceful game lives. Others would like her for the same reason, or even join Expel if there was a war going on. It would drastically change play on her favorite planet.

But then if she cut it off, Celine would get depressed, which would affect her, which would be noticed by the medical network. Next time, they might be a little more heavy-handed about starting her over.

 

C.J.: I’m not sure yet.

 

She cut off the conversation a few lines after that. Saige was jealous and probably wouldn’t talk to her for weeks due to this. That, and an alert had come up on Tria. She needed to get back into character.

* * *

 

-Celine, Cross country road

Although the weather was brilliant, sunny, and clear, the trip back to Cross Castle had been noticeably less spirited then the trip to Cross Cave. Celine and Chris tried to appear happy so the other two didn’t get involved in the issue; they thought they were just heading back to check with some experts in the castle town about the various small treasures they’d found. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out as Rena asked, “What’s the matter with you two? You don’t seem too happy today.”

“It’s complicated,” Celine said.

Chris closed his eyes for a bit, then looked to the three of them. “I told her last night… I’m actually Clothier, the Prince of Cross. Which means I’ll be marrying the princess of Lacour soon, not her.”

“Well that’s…” Claude started, but wasn’t sure what to say.

Rena knew what she wanted to say, though. “But you two love each other! That much is obvious. Why not marry Celine instead? You’ll be happier for it.”

“I would be,” Chris said. “But I can’t risk getting the Kingdom of Lacour mad at Cross. I’ve been engaged for a long time. So even if I’ve never met Rozelia, I have to go through with it.”

“Well why don’t you explain things to Rozelia then?” Rena argued. “I’m sure that if you explained that Celine is your true love, she would understand.”

“How can you be sure of that?” Chris asked in mixed tones. It seemed that he wanted to believe she was right, but had doubts. For herself, Celine felt the same way. “You couldn’t know her either.”

“I would think any reasonable person could understand the situation. Besides, she’s a girl. Every girl dreams of finding her one true love.” She gave a happy little smile to that.

“Well, Rozaline would be sixteen too,” Celine said. When she had been young, she had believed in waiting for her true love as well. Now that she was in her twenties, she hadn’t been so sure about it. But if it got her together with Chris, she would believe in those old dreams again.

“I really want it to work out that way, but…” Chris thought about it. “If I try and Rozaline refuses to accept it, it’s going to cause a big mess. And I have to set a good example for my people, so I can’t just give in to passion.”

“But then you wouldn’t be true to yourself if you accept a false happiness,” Rena insisted. She might have been the youngest one there, but she seemed to have the strongest voice. “And that would be a bad example too.”

“I know. Let me think about it.” He found something about his crossbow to distract himself with for a minute, but as they walked on, he was mostly quietly, reflecting on things in his mind.

Celine looked down at the stone road they were following. It had been made for easier cart travel. Since the noise and sight of the carts kept the monsters away, it was safest for travelers who were walking too. When she looked up, she saw Cross Castle, its white towers standing high behind stone walls. It seemed much too close for her liking.

Coming over by Chris’ side, she took his hand. “You don’t have to talk to Rozaline about us if you don’t want to,” she said quietly. “I don’t want to cause trouble for you. But I’ll always think of you as my lovey-dovey Chris.”

He finally smiled, something he hadn’t done all morning. “Thanks, my lovey-dovey Celine. I’ve thought of something about that… you know those rings I picked up? Should I get a jeweler in town to look at them? I trust your magic and knowledge, but I don’t want to… to cause problems if I give them as a gift.”

She lightly patted him in playful admonishment. “Now if I say they’re not cursed, you ought to trust that. I’m kidding, lovey. If you are going to give them as gifts, you should get a second examination, just in case. You don’t want to be turning your gift recipient to stone, after all.”

“Right. I know a place in town. If we don’t get spotted by the guards, I’d like to stop by there.”

By the time they got to the city gates, Chris looked more confident, like the problem had lessened its weight. “I’ll try explaining things to Rozaline,” he told them. “Celine, would you come with me? I think the two of you ought to meet.”

She smiled at him. “Sure, my lovey.” She looked to the other two. “It’s been fun traveling with you both. I wish you the best in your trip to Eluria.”

“Thanks,” Rena said with a nod. “You’ve helped us a lot.”

“We’d invite you to the wedding if you’re going to be around,” Chris said. “But I’m not sure how a trip to Eluria would allow for that.”

“We might find a reason to stay around for a while longer,” Claude said with a grin. “Depends on how much longer, though.”

The pairs split up. Celine and Chris went to the market square and found the jeweler he wanted. After waiting for some time for the store owner to use probably every bit of equipment he had to examine the silver rings, he came back with a sound judgment. “I can’t find any hint of a curse on these two, nor a blessing. They seem to be just a pair of rings, although obviously well-crafted by a master of metalwork. Still, I can’t give you a price estimate on them as I have nothing to compare them to save for modern ring work. They could sell very high due to their ancient origins, but they could sell for almost nothing due to their lack of any magic craft.”

“I see.” Chris took the rings back, then paid for the exam. “Thank you.”

They walked north to reach the castle itself. As an extra security measure, the castle had originally been surrounded by a deep moat, only crossable by boat or a single stone bridge. A drawbridge at the end could be pulled up to seal off the castle. But then the city outgrew its castle, and another outer wall had to be erected in order to allow enough room for expansion. As a result, the inner castle was much more elegant and ancient than the rest of Cross Castle City.

As they entered the grand hall, with its black and white tiles and lofty ceiling, Chris let go of Celine’s hand. “If you don’t mind, let me handle the castle staff. I have more experience with them.”

She nodded. It would help him to be a stronger man if she let him do so. And besides, this was a big change from the meek and naïve Chris that she had met originally. “I’ll be good.”

He chuckled, then came up to one of the guards on patrol. “Excuse me.”

The guard turned, then widened his eyes. “Your highness? Where on Expel have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Hold on, good man,” Chris said, holding up his right hand. “I’m all right. I’ll speak with the King later on about this. For now, we need to see Princess Rozaline. Is she in yet?”

“Yes, she arrived just yesterday. Who is this?”

“Celine Jules, a friend of mine. Where is the princess staying?”

“Up in the guest chambers. I will take you there if you wish, your highness.”

He didn’t seem too impressed; he probably knew how to get there on his own. But Chris let the guard led them up the stairs to the correct guest suite. It was quite grand considering the small space it took up. A big picture window looked out over the mountains and forests by the castle. It had its own toilet room (very exclusive; not even Celine’s prestigious family could afford one) and powder room. To finish it off, it was filled with beautiful furniture: a large bed with a silk canopy, a rare dark cherry set of drawers with polished mirror, a tall wardrobe to match the drawers, sumptuous stuffed chairs, and other showy items.

In the room, they finally met Princess Rozelia. She was beautiful, with fair unblemished skin, dainty long hands, a larger chest than Celine, and a full hourglass figure. However, she did look uncannily like Chris, with her long sunny blond hair and her sky blue eyes. They probably had relatives that were the same if one looked back enough generations. Even though she seemed to be relaxing here, she wore a stylish white and pink dress with sparkling ribbons around the hem and on the chest. Kicking her feet some, she looked to them with a bored expression.

“Princess,” the guard said. “I bring you Prince Clothier T. Cross and his friend Celine Jules. Prince, I present to you Princess Rozelia Lacour.”

The Princess got up and curtsied as her maid came up and did the same. “It is good to meet you, Prince Clothier, after all these years.” She spoke a little stiffly, too politely.

“Tis good to see you in good health,” Chris replied, in the same kind of formal tone. “If you don’t mind, Rozelia, we need to talk about our futures.”

“Well, all right,” she said, twisting her fingers about in some nervousness. As she was anxious about something, she continued with formalities. “It is good to see you in good health as well; I had heard that you were recovering in the provinces.”

Celine glanced at the knight, who pretended not to notice the lie.

“Right about that… I have actually been traveling around to meet with my people and, I mean you no disrespect, but with an honest heart, I must say that I cannot marry you, Rozelia.”

In response to that, Rozelia moved back some in surprise. Celine had to admire her self-control right then. Some women she knew would break down and wail at a declaration like that. All she said was, “Oh my.”

“Now why would that be?” the maid interrupted. The middle-aged woman narrowed her eyes at him. “You’ve been engaged to her for sixteen years, you can’t possibly back out due to cowardice now.”

“I am not a coward,” Chris said, sharp enough to stop a rant from her. But his words quickly softened as he turned back to Rozelia. “It took quite some courage to decide to tell you this. But you see, I love Celine here.” He took her hand at that point, as she started smiling. “It started six months ago when I decided to leave my crown behind and explore the city as the people did. I knew people treated me special because I was the prince, but I didn’t realize how much until I did so. And when I nearly got into trouble based on my ignorance, Celine stepped in and covered for me, for no reason but simple generosity. I spent the rest of the day with her, and then many more days after that. I realized a short while back that I loved her truly and deeply. I know this is unorthodox and I had promised my hand to you. But I was just a child when I signed that treaty, unable to understand what I was doing. I know now that I couldn’t possibly be happy with anyone other than Celine as my wife. She’s helped to make me a better man, and I’m sure a better king in the future. I give you my deepest apologies, but our wedding must be called off.”

The maid did not look happy to hear this. But to her surprise, the princess brightened up and clapped her hands together with a girlish laugh. “Oh, that’s wonderful Clothier! I’m so happy that you found your true love that I don’t mind calling off the wedding. And you’re so lucky, Miss Celine. From his letters, I know that Clothier is a great man in the making.”

Laughing too, Celine replied. “Yes, I knew that all along.”

Chris smiled at them, then pulled the rings out of his pocket. “There’s something else. I knew we were to be married in order to cement peace and friendship between our kingdoms. But since the marriage will not take place, I have this to offer instead.” He put one of the rings on, then held the other out to Rozelia. “In the interest of having a brighter future for the both of our countries, I offer you this ring of friendship, to promise that I will never bring Cross to attack Lacour, and to promise assistance and free trade between our grand countries.”

She accepted the other ring. “On behalf of the Kingdom of Lacour, I too promise that Lacour will not attack Cross, and promise assistance and free trade between our fine countries.” She put it on and grinned as the two shook hands on the promise. “How exciting! Miss Celine, may I help with the wedding? I don’t think my dressmakers have done much on my wedding dress, so we can go to them and have them refit a lovely one for you.”

“Certainly, your highness, thank you,” she said with a curtsy.

She came over and patted her on the arm. “Oh, it’s okay, just call me Rozelia.”

“Are you sure this is wise, princess?” the maid asked.

“I’ll speak to father about this,” she dismissed. “Better yet, I’ll write him a letter before he comes over here.”

“And what about your father, the king?” the guard asked.

“We’ll speak with him too shortly,” Chris said. “Besides, I’ve got things to tell him about the other people that I’ve met. There are problems that haven’t been brought up to the court yet.”

And with the major problems out of the way, preparations for the wedding of Chris and Celine began.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Mars

The group stopped off at the village of Mars. It was a quiet but intelligent town which blended in with the woods to the north of it. “I’m afraid this is where I have to leave you two,” Ernest said, jumping off the cart. “I have some business to take care of to the northwest before I head up to Hoffman Ruins. It’s been good traveling with you guys, though.”

“Right, we appreciate the help,” Bowman said, shaking Ernest’s hand. “Take care of yourself now. Hoffman Island is a rough place.”

“Sure enough.”

Ashton shook his hand too. “Yes, thank you. I’ve learned a lot from you in these few days.”

“You’re welcome, sonny.” He clapped his other hand on top of Ashton’s. “I think you’ve got a bright future, so don’t do anything to mess it up.”

“Um, all right, I’ll keep that in mind.”

After that goodbye, Ernest headed into the general store of Mars for some supplies. Bowman and Ashton unhitched their horses and led them over to a stable by the main road. By showing a written contract list from other stables, they were able to trade their tired horses in for fresh ones. Normally, travelers would simply keep one set of horses. But since they had to deliver the medicine fast, Bowman had arranged this deal so they could keep moving. They left Mars not long after arriving.

A couple hours later on the road, they encountered a band of bandits. At least, they would have encountered the bandits, if not for a strangely narrow blast of wind which swept across the road in front of the cart. The unprepared bandits were all knocked over and were scrambling to get up as the wind died and the cart moved on. Before the band could give chase, the wind returned, again not hitting the cart.

Bowman noticed. “Huh, someone must be watching out for us. Whichever god protects our path, we give our heartfelt thanks.”

Being in the back of the cart keeping an eye on their things, Ashton saw a quick movement of green overhead. Not a god, but XINE was watching out for them. His mouth went dry. What did the phoenix have in mind for him? However, he did his best to keep Bowman from noticing. The older man would worry.

They arrived in the port of Herlie as the sun was setting. Bowman brought the cart into town and parked it by the house of Eleanor’s family. “Take the medicine and handle it carefully,” he instructed. “I’ll light a lamp and bring what else I need.”

Ashton nodded, but it worried him. He’d been having a string of decent luck ever since the incident in falling off the mountain. In his life, that was always a bad sign. It meant that something terrible would happen shortly. He didn’t know why, but his life had always been marked by ill luck. It had yet to kill him, but he couldn’t count the number of times that he had caused accidents or had completely random mishaps ruin one day or another. Thus, when whatever god of chaos he was born under had held back for a while, he knew it was preparing to make a terrible strike.

Still, he picked up the clay container holding the medicine Bowman had made from the Metox. Although lidded securely, it still had a scent like fire coming off it. It sloshed gently as Ashton carried it from the cart into the red roofed house. A few candles were lit inside, but it was not light enough to see the interior well.

Eleanor’s mother had answered the door and led them upstairs. “She still breathes, but she hasn’t stirred much since you left. I followed your instructions and she doesn’t seem to be in much pain now.”

“Good, good. I’ve got enough of the medicine for two weeks now. If she shows signs of improvement, then she should recover by the end of that time. I’d like your help with this first night. Ashton, you’ll have to leave since you’re not a healer.”

“Um, all right.”

“You may rest in the room across from here,” Eleanor’s mother said. “I know it’s been a long trip for you both.”

“Yes, thank you. I hope this works.” He bowed politely, then left the room.

There was a blip of a moment where something didn’t happen.

* * *

 

-Ashe, 4D

That something was time freezing, but only the player Ashe noticed. His vision as Ashton in the candlelit hall dulled as an alert from Tria came up. ‘Immersion session ending at scheduled time. Thank you for playing.’

Then it all dissolved away until he became aware of the chair moving away from him. There was a moment of grogginess as he tried to recall what this scheduled end was for. Pulling the browser screen over, he saw his own note. ‘Stop for party at Jubilee.’

“Oh right, the party!” He got out of the immersion chair and left his game room. He automatically turned left, but then reminded himself that he wasn’t at his parent’s house any more. In his house, his closet was to the right, at the end of the upstairs hall. Ashe entered and shut the door. Technically, he didn’t have to as he was living alone. He was just used to doing so.

The room was walled with mirrors and well lit. Green text began to appear on the back mirror. ‘Select saved appearance or design a new one?’

He chose a saved appearance and then went to the cosplay file. Some more selections brought up his Eternal Sphere characters. He had two, although one was now full-auto and he couldn’t log into it anymore. That one was a traveling merchant on Elicoor II, his training character. Every child got assigned a training character; they were limited in what they could do, but it taught one how to operate the Eternal Sphere and, more importantly, the etiquette for players. Because he had played remarkably the last few years, earning in-game success and fame, he had been allowed to take on a challenge play-through already. Drawn to the idea of a challenge, he had taken the Ill Luck build as the one that seemed best.

However, he wasn’t able to run two characters at once yet. Thus, his active character was Ashton, on a different planet. He selected that one.

His hair was already black and of the appropriate length. His eyes were the right color too, so the closet did not touch either of those. Instead, it altered the structure, color, and mass of his clothes in order to mimic the traveling outfit that Ashton wore. The closet wouldn’t give him the two swords, though, or any armor. That was illegal. Not only that, but it was lighter than the actual clothes. Well, actual being the virtual reality actual. Ashe wasn’t physically used to wearing the multiple layers that Ashton was.

Once it was done, he left the closet and ran towards the stairs. But he managed a misstep and stumbled at the top step. For a moment, he was facing a fall down the stairs. It was frightening to face real pain.

But then the house picked up on his clumsiness and quickly caught him with a grav-mod bubble. It set him at the bottom of the stairs and held on for a moment to wait for his mind and body to calm then. Then it restored him to normal gravity.

“Good thing you are okay,” the robotic butler said, coming down the stairs. “You should be more careful.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I was just a bit excited.”

“There is no need to rush. You have plenty of time and there is no punishment for being late to a party.”

He blushed. “Um yeah. I’ll be going now.”

“Have a good time.”

On his way out, he picked up the flier from a small table by the door. He then walked along the streets of his home block. It was absolutely gorgeous out here today. Then again, it was always gorgeous. Blue and purple flowers were blooming in neat beds. The walkway was clean, made to appear and feel like grass, but more hygienic. Beside every home, there was a garden that could grow whatever the homeowner wished. And at every crossing, there was an elegant water fountain. Today, every fountain was topped by a merman wielding a trident.

Ashe arrived at the transport station and waved at the uniformed woman working there. “Good day,” she replied with a smug smile. “How may I serve you today?”

“Hi, I’d like the transport to…” he checked the flyer, “Jubilee Square.” He handed over the flyer.

She looked at it. “Oh, how fun. I hadn’t heard.” She passed it back, then touched a keypad on a post near her. “Okay, you’re approved to transfer to Jubilee Square. I hope you have a good time.”

He grinned, then stepped into the transporter circle. For a moment, there was an odd sensation of movement without moving. For this reason, all transporters had been built identically and all transporter staff was required to dress and look identical. Ashe waved at the next transport girl, then went to enter Jubilee Square.

As each square had their own parameters, Jubilee had a nighttime sky. There were many playfully shaped buildings, all shops and bars. Colorful paper lanterns (or very safe copies of such) were string overhead to provide lighting and mood. Already there was party music playing and many people mingling in costume. But to get in, he needed to confront a woman in rainbow curls and a silver dress that was pretty much made up of slivers of material.

“Hello, and welcome to Jubilee Square’s Color Festival,” she sang. “Do you have a flier?”

“Yes, I do.” He handed it over to her.

She checked it, then checked the security terminal by her to make sure he was old enough. “All right, you’ll all clear to go. Have fun!”

Nodding to her, Ashe went on into the square itself. It was so different from any other place on 4D that he had ever been to. As he was trying to decide what to do, a woman sprang on him, wrapping her arms around him. “Hi! First time to this kind of party, huh?”

He tried to look at her, but all he could see was her face, with a pink painted nose, red glitter eyeshadow, peach eyes, and attached whiskers. “Hi… yeah, how can you tell?”

She hopped back, letting him see that she was wearing a red bikini with pink fur fringe, red slippers with pink pom-poms, a pink fluffy bunny tail, and pink fluffy bunny ears. “Cause you’re looking at everything for the first time,” then giggled. “Would you like a bunny buddy for the night?”

“Do you work here?” he asked.

“I wish,” she said, dropping the cutesy act for a bit. “No, I’m just attending the party too. But it’s no fun alone. Pwease come with me?” She put her hands together and gave him wide eyes.

He grinned. “Sure thing.”


	6. Hardcore vs Casual

* * *

-Dias, Cross countryside

Dias returned his katana to its sheath. In front of him was a wolf monster that had recently been decapitated; its legs were still twitching. Just beyond the wolf was another four wolf monsters, skidding to a stop. They were changing their minds from ‘weak foe, let’s gang up on him!’ to ‘oh shoot, he’s not weak!’. The four remaining monsters looked at him dumbly.

“Go home, unless you want to meet his fate,” he said sternly. Then he turned and kept going down the path.

The four slunk away with their tails between their legs. Off to his right, the blue haired warrior could see the road off in the distance. Monsters and thieves were more likely to attack a traveler that was off the road. That was fine, though. As he had to keep alert and fight every so often, it sharpened his skills. Plus he wouldn’t be bothered by groups looking for guards. He didn’t mind helping, but he didn’t want work with others. That was a risk he didn’t want to take.

Right now, he needed to get to Lacour Castle. It would be faster to cross the continents on a horse-drawn cart, but then he’d have to take care of the horse. Plus, horses were a large expense in acquiring, feeding, shoeing, caring for, and such. The investment would be lost in the highly likely situation of horse thieves. Although, sometimes he thought of using a horse just to act as bait for bandit gangs…

Not this time. Dias would walk to Herlie and get a ride to the Lacour continent. The famous Lacour Tournament of Arms was coming up and he was finally old enough to qualify. While his name was earning a reputation for greatness, he hadn’t had a chance like this to prove himself. Besides, making it to the semi-finals meant that one got to keep the Lacour quality weapons and armor that the sponsors gave the entrants. That made the whole thing worthwhile.

Not much else happened that day. He expected to reach the crossroads town of Mars in a few days. While there, he could replenish his supplies and get rid of some of the junk treasures he had picked up on this trip into Lagauss.

* * *

 

-Dano, 4D

_Planet-Expel_

_Character- Dias Flac_

_Style- adventure (specialist class: iai-jutsu swordsman)_

_Quest status: None currently_

 

There was one problem with attempting to master a character class. That problem was grinding. Especially in the Eternal Sphere, there were no shortcuts. A player could make an ideal set-up in character creation and lay out the foundation for a great warrior, wizard, merchant, or whatever. But once the game began, it required in-game years of practice, lessons, and grind sessions. Aside from hackers, who cheated and made their characters perfect.

Thankfully, the Eternal Sphere Company took strong actions against hackers. It made it easier for hardworking players like Dano to shine. Dano only ever played one character at a time, although he was cleared for more. He worried about every single detail and every single stat when creating one. After picking a particular style of play, he geared everything to mastering that style. He picked his quests carefully, he went through long periods of training, and he optimized every visit to the Eternal Sphere towards making his character stronger and better.

But even a serious player like himself had to take a break from the grind every now and then. After deciding to log off when it was apparently a quiet day for Dias, Dano checked into the OoC forums for Expel. After reading through several topics he was following, and commenting on a couple, he checked into the leader boards. Specifically, the Prestige lists. On the Expel Player Prestige list, he found himself at number 5. That would change once the Tournament came about.

What interested him more was the Character Prestige list.

 

17\. Dias Flac – specialist swordsman/adventure

18\. Claude Kenni – Accidental hero/adventure

 

Dano tapped his fingers on the arm of the immersion chair. So they’d finally swapped positions. Not that long ago, Claude had jumped way up the Character Prestige list due to some incidents in Arlia and Salva. It didn’t make much sense, as the two towns were small enough that doing events there shouldn’t increase prestige that much. He had even jumped above Dias, which annoyed Dano since he couldn’t figure out who played Claude. That, and this character was an ‘accidental hero’.

To his detail-obsessive mind, getting the label accidental hero was a sign of sloppiness. Sure, such characters were interesting to watch on later network playbacks. But they were hardly optimized. The worst was when he found an accidental hero that was obviously the work of a casual player. The casuals didn’t appreciate the time and effort the serious players took, thinking that anyone should be capable of producing a hero. And they didn’t appreciate what players like himself had to endure to become so strong.

At any rate, it seemed that ‘Claude’ would most likely become old news fast and drop back down the Prestige charts. Still, who was playing him?

Well, that wasn’t important. He got out of his immersion chair, stretched, then called out, “Butler!”

His robotic butler soon appeared. “Yes Master Dano?”

“Get me the jigsaw puzzle database in the living room. I want a new one.”

“Yes, right away.”

“Hopefully one that’s difficult this time,” he said to himself as he headed into the living room.

* * *

 

-C.J., 4D

Teeny tiny little squares, thousands of them. The white threads that made up the fabric were held taunt by the embroidery ring. Guiding a dark green thread, C.J. made a pattern of x’s. X, x, x… oh darn, that wasn’t right. She undid the last few stitches, then tried again. Then the needle’s sharp end pricked her finger.

She winced for a second before realizing that she had felt only a dull poke. The needle had sensed it was touching flesh and had dulled instantly. In the Eternal Sphere, she would now have a nice bubble of blood coming from her finger. Not here in 4D. There was no pain here.

After a few minutes, she had completed a green maple leaf on the fabric. Pleased, she showed it to her butler. “I did it.”

“Very good, m’am,” the robot replied.

“Oh, you don’t care,” she said dismissively. “You’re just programmed to say that. Still, it is nice. It could be a fun hobby to get into. Nice, productive, and time consuming.”

“It is still something of an unneeded chore, so it could be a hobby,” the robot noted. “You need to check into the Eternal Sphere; Celine has almost reached her destination.”

“All right.” She put the embroidery supplies on the table, then got up to leave the room. “Leave these things here for now. I’ll want to look at them later.”

“Yes, m’am.”

As she went to her game room, C.J. felt happy. If she could complete enough embroidery projects, she could claim it as her new hobby and get the game restriction lifted. Then she could keep playing Celine past the wedding. And the sewing wasn’t that bad. It could become quite the immersive hobby, with lots of branches to explore. It would end her problem of boredom, at least.

* * *

 

-Celine, Mars

Mars was a fairly quiet village, shaded by towering trees. It looked no different than any other, with a scattering of buildings around a wide and winding way. What made it distinct was the earth, the air, and the forest around it. The area of Mars was, for some reason, especially vibrant with magic. Heraldry users found their powers increased in this place, so they had gathered naturally to study here. Many of the young people here dressed like Celine did, in light clothing that displayed their crest tattoos. Older folks generally went for long flowing robes.

Celine spoke with one of the stable owners she knew to care for the horses the castle had loaned them. It was her, Rena, Claude, and a knight sent to guard Celine. While she probably didn’t need the guard, it had taken so much talk from her and Chris just to get her allowed to go to Mars and Clik that she gave up on resisting a guard. Preparations for a royal wedding were so busy and exacting that it made her head whirl. She was glad to be back in quiet little Mars.

As it was evening, Rena and Claude went to the inn to check in for the night. “Thanks again for seeing us to the port,” Rena said.

“It’s no trouble, darling. Besides, you helped get me and Chris together and I cannot thank you enough for that. Good night, both of you.”

Claude nodded; he looked tired enough that she was fairly certain that there was nothing untoward about them staying in the same room. Apparently they weren’t a couple. At least not yet. Celine could see little signs that they were interested in each other, like how easily they talked. Besides, Rena could always throw a spell anvil at him if he got too frisky.

After they parted, Celine and her guard went northeast to her parents’ home. Her mother Labe answered their knock. “Oh Celine, how good to see you again. And this is?”

“This is Kevin, my bodyguard,” she told him.

Kevin saluted. He wore full body armor of yellow tan with a blue gemstone on the helmet. By that, he was marked as a high-ranking knight, someone assigned to guard important people. But it hindered him from bowing much, so he just saluted instead.

She looked deeply puzzled. “Bodyguard? But isn’t he a castle knight?”

“Yes mother. The truth is,” she was unable to suppress a grin as she took her mother’s hand, “I’m getting married in a couple of weeks to Chris.”

“Really? How wonderful. Let’s go tell your father. You may come in, Kevin. Eglas!”

“That isn’t all,” Celine said as she and the knight came into the house. A fire in the fireplace lit up the room already, keeping things warm. “It turns out that Chris is actually Prince Cross! He had to stay behind to help with preparations, but I wanted to tell you myself. That’s why they sent Kevin with me.”

“Mercy,” was all Labe would say, although she started smiling. “I can’t believe it almost, but it came from you. I’m so happy for you.”

“What is it?” Celine’s father said as he came downstairs.

It was a very happy evening at their home.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Port Herlie

It was a foggy morning; the water seemed like a soup broth in sending off lots of steam. Ashton went ahead and crossed the plaza to Eleanor’s home. Would anyone be up? Curious, he knocked lightly.

Bowman opened the door almost immediately. “I thought it was you.”

He smiled. “Good morning. How are things?”

“Pretty good.”

Without warning, a pink haired girl came into the doorway. She smiled. “Good morning, big brother Ashton.” She came over and hugged him at the waist.

He patted her head. “Good morning, Eleanor. You made it down the stairs.”

“Mr. Bowman helped me, but I walked down this time.”

“It’s quite the miraculous recovery,” Bowman said. “But you still need to eat your breakfast.”

She let go of Ashton. “Oh, okay.”

“Actually,” Ashton interrupted, “I came by because I have to be leaving. I have some business to take care of in Mars.”

“Aw, you’re leaving already?” she asked, starting a pout.

“I’m sorry, but it’s something I have to get done. And I’ve got other places to go and things to do now. But I’ll send you a letter when I can and tell you what I’m doing.”

“Really, you promise?”

Ashton nodded. “I promise.”

Eleanor smiled. “Good. And you can come visit whenever you like. Have a safe trip, big brother.” She then walked back into the house. She was slow, but it was more walking that Ashton had ever seen her do.

But Bowman wasn’t quite so trusting. He shut the door partly, but stayed outside. “About this business of yours… I said that her recovery was miraculous. Does it have anything to do with the Lasguss phoenix?”

Feeling his ears get warm, he hunched up his shoulders. “How did you…?”

“Although, these things shouldn’t be talked about openly,” the herbalist interrupted. “Such spirits… they can be fickle and go back on their word if they get bored or feel betrayed. You be careful now, and keep your spirit strong.”

Ashton bowed out of respect. “Okay, I will. And thank you for everything. It’s been good working with you.”

Bowman smiled and offered a handshake. “You too, Ashton. If you ever need my help or just happen to be near Linga, don’t be afraid to drop in. I’ll be crossing back over the sea today, so I’ll be at my pharmacy.”

“All right. Goodbye and have a safe trip.”

“Goodbye.” He then went back in the house. Ashton left Port Herlie alone.

An early morning wagon was setting out as he walked along the stone road. Although they offered wages if he would come along as a guard, Ashton merely waved them on and wished them safe journey. It wasn’t until the wagon’s clatter died off that he heard great wings flying above him.

XINE emerged from the fog and landed on the road. “It is done.”

He bowed, this time more formally. “Yes, thank you your highness.”

“So, about the price you must pay for my help… I have watched you and considered this deeply.” He paused.

Nervous, Ashton watched the giant green bird. He didn’t dare interrupt, out of fear of harm to himself or to Eleanor. But what would this price be?

“Keep on down this road,” XINE instructed. “Turn south at Mars and go down to Salva. There is a demon dragon that lives deep within Salva Drift. It is of one body, but two minds. Normally, it does nothing. However, recent mining has uncovered the shaft of Energy Stone that it lives near. It has been attacking the miners and terrorizing the village of Salva for a few weeks now. You are to go there and take care of the dragon.”

“Take care of the demon dragon?” Ashton echoed.

“Right. That is the price you will pay. There will be no backing out of this.” XINE seemed satisfied with this and flew back up into the morning fog.

Demon dragon… he hadn’t fought a normal dragon before, much less a demon dragon. But that didn’t sound too bad. He was pretty sure that he could handle slaying a dragon. Besides, the village of Salva might even give him a reward for taking care of its problem. All around, that seemed to be a good deal.

Ashton figured that he’d better stop in Mars on the way. It wouldn’t hurt to read up some on demonic dragons, just in case there was some nasty surprise in wait. A little preparedness would go a long way.

* * *

 

-Leon, Lacour Castle Heraldic Science Laboratory

The head researcher of the Lacour Heraldic Science Laboratory was faced with a problem. It wasn’t that he was short. Sure, even the shortest of lab coats fell down to his ankles and he had to be careful not to make any embarrassing clumsiness. But he had his work table and stool shortened so that he could work and sit comfortably.

It wasn’t that he was young. At least, not to him. Other researchers were not pleased that a twelve-year-old had been recognized as the best researcher at the castle. It might be a problem in some time, given that adolescence wasn’t that far off and tended to make people act funny. For right now, he didn’t care.

And it certainly wasn’t his odd looks. Everyone else at the castle was pretty normal and he… well, he had feline ears coated in light blue fur, to match his hair, as well as a feline tail, which was long enough that he could curl it about his waist like a belt. It was just an odd accident with his mother experimenting in certain heraldry arts when she was pregnant with him.

No, Leon’s problem was that his father was best known for inventing the flushing toilet.

It was one of those things that, yeah, it was useful and could change things greatly. But it was so mundane, used for something that anyone proper considered rude to talk about. And it was currently too expensive for just anybody to go out and buy. Leon didn’t think he could do much about his father’s reputation. But he knew that he could do something to make sure that his was much better than that.

At his workstation, Leon observed his most recent experiment. He read his notes, then adjusted a set of heraldry crystals. H-crystals, as well as some kinds of molds, plants, and animals, were known to produce light in dark caves and waters. They could also be used as focus point for magic, or stabilizers to continue a magic. After taking several measurements to make sure everything was exact, he attached another H-crystal to its slot. It was larger than the others and, like them, currently dim.

Now that it was ready, he cast a spell over the two sets of smaller H-crystals. It was a very minor spell, not much use for anything. But put into the crystals, the spell got focused into the thin glass tube that made up a circle. Magic began to move within the tube and, after a second, the larger H-crystal began glowing. It was faint at first. After he recorded the light rating of a quarter of a candle, he noticed that the glow had increased.

This was unexpected. The glow kept increasing. And then, something utterly improbable occurred. Within the tube, a small white thing appeared. It raced around and around the tube, going faster as the larger H-crystal brightened to around five candles. The tube began to vibrate, shaking against the stand that kept it steady. Then, it burst in three places, blasting out a reasonable gust that scattered his papers and whipped his hair around. His ears twitched in physical irritation.

And then it died, the H-crystals all going dim.

Leon stared at the tube for a moment. Then he scrambled around trying to get his papers back together. “Where’s that thing!?”

“Is everything all right, Master Leon?” one of the other researchers asked. He was an older man, but tall. Only a few wispy gray hairs hung onto the sides of his head. He picked up a few papers that were further away and handed them over.

“It’s all right, Nicolas,” Leon insisted, tossing the papers aside and letting the end of his tail twitch. “It could be great. Something unexpected happened during my experiment.”

“What happened? There was an increase in magic over here without any more crests being drawn.”

“I know, that’s what could be great.” He shuffled through the papers until he found the design and passed it over to Nicolas. Then he spotted it, a tiny white object that was now fluttering to the ground. “It was supposed to conduct energy, but it somehow was drawing it from another source. Gotcha.” He snatched the thing before it could hit the ground.

“Like lightning magic?” the researcher asked, looking over Leon’s design concept.

He snorted. “Lightning? You can’t conduct that very far. It’s too powerful and melts any metal wire you put enough of its energy in. No, this is conducting vacuum heraldry energy.” He opened his hands and was careful with his breath as he looked at the thing. It had an irregular jagged shape, with a ripped edge. It was flat, with barely any depth. White and dry, a quick pinch showed what it was. “Just a piece of paper… but it popped out of nowhere.”

“You got a paper scrap from a vacuum?” Nicolas asked, sounding keenly interested.

Leon straightened up proudly. He liked when people acknowledged him. “Yeah, and I’m sure I’ll figure it out with some study. See, vacuum magic works by calling up a point of nothingness, which pulls at what is around it to become something. That’s how it pulls energy from a target, or creates a backwards flow wind. But I figured, what would happen if you called up two vacuum points within an enclosed space? They would both draw from each other, creating a stable flow of energy. At least, that was my theory.

“But then this shows otherwise,” he said, holding out the paper scrap. “I was going to use the stable flow of energy to cause a light-emitting reaction in this star-aligned crystal. I got that, but then the two vacuum points started pulling in energy from somewhere else. And not just energy, it also got this bit of material. It gained enough power to break this glass circle… which that wasn’t that strong in the first place, I admit, but the force to break it was… more than I put into it.” He disliked not having a figure for the power increase, but he hadn’t yet done the sums on it.

“Hmm… it’s not quite enough for a weapon.”

Leon felt annoyed. “I know, I know. The King wants us to be designing a weapon to fend off the demons. I can do that no problem, I’ve just got interest in this concept right now and I want to work it out before focusing on weapons.”

Nicolas rubbed his chin. “Although… what would happen if you got a stronger conducting device and put in more vacuum points? Would it increase the energy created? And what exactly is it drawing off of?”

“Probably the same source as all other heraldry,” Leon stated. “Many spells create an energy or material temporarily, which dissipates as soon as the crest is broken or the magician tires. Where this energy comes from, though, is still unknown.” The first part of his elder’s (but not superior’s) comment then hit him. “If we were to increase the vacuum points… I don’t know, it could increase the created energy. That failed and just made an annoying gust, but if there were more energy stored, it could be weaponized.”

And make a big explosion of energy? Leon felt excited; that would have to be seen, but it could be so great! However, he couldn’t give that as his reason to conduct the experiment. That was childish. He wouldn’t be childish. He was the lead researcher of the lab, after all.

“I think we’ve got something that could handle it,” Leon said. “But we’d best take this experiment out of the castle. I’ll ask Momma and Papa if we can go out into the countryside this evening to try.”

* * *

 

-???, outside of Lacour Castle City

Nicolas had left far earlier than the rest of the researchers. When he was out on the road, with only a large rabbit monster to witness, he pulled out his communicator band. After a second, its red light turned green. “This is Nicolas with a new report and question.”

“State your report,” a voice answered him.

“Most of the researchers are on unsuitable designs, but the child has an interesting concept that I’m not familiar with. He’s causing two vacuums to pull on each other to create a power draw from larger black holes. The source is my theory, but he has gotten a bit of paper matter out of it as well.”

“That is a known concept, although not many used it seriously. It could be altered for our purposes.”

“Do I have permission to intervene in the matter?”

“Explain what he has exactly and I’ll explain what can be done.”

They spent a good hour exchanging information that would have bewildered any of the Lacour lab researchers, even Leon and his parents. In the end, Nicolas got a crest design drawn up and they had agreed to use the child’s plans. He managed to put his communicator out of sight as the others came out of the city.

Florence, Leon’s mother, smiled at him. “Enjoying the weather, Nicolas?”

Smiling back, at least on the outside, he nodded. “Quite. It’s good to get out on a walk every now and then.”

He followed them out to the experiment site.

* * *

 

-Leon, Lacour countryside

The sun was setting by the time they were ready to set up the three-point experiment. Leon could barely contain his excitement, as all of the researchers had come out to see. On the way, he had to consciously remind himself not to hop or skip about. Any other child would have done so, but he wasn’t any other child. He was a genius, a prodigy. He had a reputation to upkeep.

But if he had his way, he’d be laughing and hopping around now.

They reached a deserted patch of land, too rocky to be farmed and too brown for nature lovers. Leon and his parents set up a copper pipe made into a circle. To preserve the set up, they installed a valve that could be opened to release the energy build-up. Then they added three pairs of crystals at set points to maintain the vacuums once they were created. To keep track of the energy, they placed three glow crystals, mostly to keep a balanced flow.

While the three did that, the other researchers set up shielding spells to protect against the energy. They wanted to direct it from the escape valve, but they didn’t know how exactly this energy would be released. “Are you ready back there?” Leon called to them.

“Ready, Master Leon,” one of the younger researchers called.

Although Leon was the lead researcher, Murdoch was still his father. “Okay, it’s a base vacuum spell in three… two… one… go!”

The heraldry tattoos on the back of Leon’s hands began to glow silver as he cast the small spell. Then he and his parents retreated to the others for safety as the device began working. Through the evening light, they could see the glow crystals light up at about one candle. The glow quickly increased. Nothing seemed to change around it, though. What grasses were there did not die. The rocks did not crumble or vanish. But the energy got to the point where it made the copper hum and glow itself. Around the circular device, water began to condense, then hiss when it touched the metal.

Then the valve burst. This time, there was a orange copper glow as bursts of something not quite wind and not quite sparks shot out. The spray went everywhere, making a ‘shhhheeeemmm’ sound. A scraggly bush nearby was soon shredded to bits. Weaker rocks met the same fate. A few ‘sparks’ hit the copper tubing and left dents. After a few seconds, the fountain of energy was spent and things quieted down.

“That was great, wasn’t it Papa?” Leon asked, grinning in spite of himself.

“Yes it was… let’s leave it be for a while, though, it still looks dangerously hot.”

“That was incredible,” another researcher exclaimed. “If we could figure out more behind how this works, it could do great things.”

“If you could find a way to direct that energy,” Nicolas chimed in, “it could make for an effective weapon.”

Weapon. Something about the old man’s words stirred Leon’s mind. Ideas seemed to be pulled out of nowhere to his mind, like the paper that had gotten into his double-vacuum glass tube. He could make something great out of this, which would drive away the demons and make him famous. Then everyone would forget about his father’s toilet contribution to society and praise his work instead.

“It’s getting late though,” Florence said, putting her hand on Leon’s shoulder. “We at least should go back in.”

“Right, we’ll clean up this experiment before anyone finds it,” Murdoch agreed.

“All right.” But Leon wasn’t all that tired. All the way back, he talked with his mother, sometimes jumping from one idea to the next so fast that she just laughed and said she couldn’t keep up with him mentally.

Before he could get to writing those ideas down, though, he somehow fell asleep. All well. It just made tomorrow a busier day.

* * *

 

-Enlo, 4D

_Planet-Expel_

_Character- Leon Geeste_

_Style- scientific discovery, runology discovery, child_

_Quest Status: Design weapon for King Lacour, research vacuum magic technology_

 

As the immersion chair let go of Enlo, he swept aside his light brown hair and said, “Tria, run all scanners over the evening section of the session I just played.”

The browser screen came over. It wasn’t the standard neutral blue everyone else started with, rather a soft silver. Although the immersion chair was not built with a voice, his replied, “Carrying out scans now.”

Something odd had happened with Leon just now. Enlo had been pretty happy with the pseudo-electricity discovery until after the three-point experiment. Although he hadn’t felt it at first because of the child’s excitement, he found certain parts of it suspicious. He knew Leon was incredibly capable. He had designed Leon to be incredibly capable. However, sometimes the phrase ‘divine inspiration’ meant hacking. Enlo did not want to be caught with any known sign of hacking on his account.

“All scans complete,” his browser stated, bringing up a screen of results. Enlo ran over the programming, using his sharp mind as a fine-toothed comb. There were no outright problems.

But there was something off. Under status, Leon was listed as being under the Incredibly Inspired effect. The duration left was 254 hours, over ten and a half days worth.

“Give me details on that Incredibly Inspired effect,” Enlo ordered. That was something that could be granted with in-game resources. Inspired was simply a 2 times added ability for the duration of the blessing. However, Incredibly made it 10 times added ability. And for that length of time? Normally the Inspired effects only lasted a few hours. Not days. At that duration, it carried a risk on inflicting insanity.

Rubbing his hands together, he hoped that wouldn’t happen. He had invested a lot of care into this character. Getting an insanity added on would ruin all of his work, not to mention be disappointing.

Just that? No. Something more like heartbreaking.

He got the programming details and began going through them. Supposedly, only long-time Sphere employees could interpret the Eternal Sphere’s programming without assistance. It wasn’t just in two dimensional text. It was in four dimensions. The ES programming had to literally be read in depth and it changed constantly from moment to moment. Even this copy of a past event was altering as he interpreted it.

After a few minutes, he learned that the status had been given after the experiment had ended. But even for him, it was difficult to tell who had given it, if any. There were sometimes random events like this. However, the form of the spell use interested him. It didn’t match the programming around it. Not blatantly. It was like a subtle shade of difference, as if the spell had been designed on another planet. Whoever it was wasn’t a native of Expel. But it wasn’t a staff member of the Sphere Company either.

He rubbed his eyes. “Ugh. I hope it’s random. Tria, save this data in the Flare Shield files. Butler!”

His robotic butler came skidding into the room. “Aye-aye, captain! I have swabbed the decks and polished the brass. Is there someone I need to send down the plank?”

“Not now, you trigger-happy sea swine. Get my mug filled and set up my cabin.” He cracked his knuckles. “I’ve got some pirate business to take care of.”

“Jolly good, captain.” It rushed off to do so.

In some ways, hacking made life more interesting. One just had to be careful about how it was done. Punishment for hackers these days was downright brutal. Still, it was what Enlo did best.


	7. Blissful City Clik

-Celine, outside of Clik

The group of four approached the port town on a horse-drawn cart. Two brown horses plodded along the road; thus far, they had been well-behaved. Around them, the weather was calm without a cloud in the sky. Near town, they passed a group of wagons that was preparing the set out. “Good afternoon to you folks!” the leader called.

“Good afternoon,” Claude called back. He was seated behind the driver’s bench, to help watch for bandits approaching from behind.

“You wouldn’t happen to be looking for more employment as trade guards, would you?”

He shook his head. “No, we’re heading elsewhere. Sorry.”

“It’s all right.” He turned back to the rest. “It’s so hard to get enough guards lately.”

They were close enough that they slowed their horses. “They seem to have guards already,” he said to Celine, who was handling the horses for now.

“It’s been dangerous traveling these past five months,” she replied. “Ever since the Sorcery Globe fell, the monsters are more active and more dangerous. It was concentrated mostly in Eluria, but it’s spread to here. They have to keep up their trades routes, but they don’t want the risk.”

“That’s true.” He waited, then hopped out as they came closer to the city gate.

They found a stable near the entrance; the owner had wanted charge them a ridiculous price, but then Kevin showed an order that they were on royal business. As they walked under the entryway arch, the first area they saw was a stone road that spiraled up to a hill. A grand house stood on top of that hill, with others dotted alongside the road. A large inn was right by the gate. Past a riverway, the road started downward and disappeared behind the hill.

“Have either of you ever been to Clik?” Celine asked.

“No,” Claude said.

“Me either.” Rena then put her hand on Claude’s shoulder. “But I thought you were from another continent. You didn’t recognize Herlie so you must have come into Cross from here.”

He tried to make a show of messing with his red headband, but Celine could see he was blushing. “Well I told you… I can’t really explain it. I’ve just been traveling… a long ways.”

“He says he’s from somewhere called Urth,” Rena said.

“Now that’s an odd name,” Celine said. “I hadn’t heard of it.”

“It’s nothing,” he said in a defeated tone, looking at the ground. He seemed oddly lost at that moment, although Celine couldn’t think of why.

She felt it was better not to press the issue. She wanted to leave them as a friend, not someone who made him feel uncomfortable. “Anyhow, Clik is a marvelous place. It’s very cultured. There are certain kinds of treasure that I’d only sell in Clik. And the Fountain Plaza is simply exquisite. If you get some time, you really should try out some of the food the vendors cook there.”

“I’ve always wanted to see this place,” Rena said, putting her hand to her mouth to disguise a girlish smile. “It might be kind of late for a ship to head out, but we should still check with the docks.”

“Sure,” Claude said, although his mind was still off thinking of something.

They walked along the spiraling road, which eventually came to a long mural. Other cities might have displayed a war monument or the story of their founding. However, Clik had decided to display this mural of dancing figures, all brightly colored with bold musical notes scattered over their heads and under their feet. Rena and Celine were quickly engaged in talking about which figure they liked best.

At the end of the road, they came to Fountain Plaza. The central figure was a twenty-five foot tall statue of an angel, depicted with its hands in prayer. Water spouted up to its waist, then fell into a large reflective pool. Around it were benches and carts, where many vendors called out their wares, trying to attract customers. The plaza was made of stone too, wide and circular. Thousands of people could have gathered here. Beyond that were many classy shops, selling all sorts of goods. At one end, a great many stairs led up a cliff to an overlook. At the other end, there were flags indicating that the docks were past there.

“Wow, this is busier than Salva on a festival day,” Rena said, trying to look at all the action.

“And this is just a regular old day to them,” Celine said, slightly teasing. “You ought to see it during their celebration of the angels. I went last year and there were so many lights and music, dancing… it was quite wonderful.”

“I imagine.”

“Kind of old world,” Claude seemed to mumble, but Celine figured she must have misheard him. This was far from old world, most definitely the new age.

They passed though the crowd and entered the dock area. It was massive. Since the town supplied the workforce, the entire bay was broken up into piers, warehouses, and repair docks. Some boats were headed out to catch some evening fishing, while other came in to deliver goods and people. Claude seemed interested in the ships while Rena was looking over everything eagerly.

“Young lady,” Kevin said, gently tapping Rena’s shoulder.

“Hmm, what is it Kevin?”

“You will want to put your knuckle weapons back on,” he advised. “And be cautious. In this kind of place, make yourself less of a target.”

“Oh, all right. Thank you.” She pulled a pair of clawed gloves and slipped them on.

In the meantime, Celine had found a dock supervisor. “Excuse me sir, but my friends would like to find a ship heading to Port Tenue of Eluria.”

He rubbed his chin. “Eluria, huh? Not many ships go there anymore.”

“They’re going with the blessings of the King,” Kevin said. “Show him your passport.”

“Sure,” Claude said, then took it out of his pack. It was an official signed, sealed, and dated document.

The dock supervisor held it up and titled it towards the sun, to see the heraldry marks that confirmed it. “My goodness, it is a real one. Sorry, but I see so many fakes come through trying to avoid taxes.” He handed back the passport, then pointed to the nearest pier. “Best option you have is Captain Ishmael over there, on the White Whale. He’s taking some other adventurers up there tomorrow. You’d better hurry as to get a place in the ship, though.”

“All right,” Rena said.

“Is that really what the ship is called, the White Whale?” Claude asked, some smile coming onto his face.

“Yeah,” the supervisor said, puzzled. “Why would you ask?”

“Just some old joke, nothing special.” He was still chuckling as they walked away.

Despite the name, the White Whale was a brown and red wooden ship. Celine was thinking that it was a good ship when something didn’t happen.

* * *

 

-C.J., 4D

The dock blurred as C.J. got an alert. ‘You have a visitor: Dr. Hall.’

Again? She got out of her chair, waited a minute to shake the feeling that there should be scent of seawater around her, then went to the living room. The doctor was there with his briefcase, looking over an illusion screen of information. When she came by, he looked up, smiled, and offered a handshake. “Hello again, C.J.. I hope you’ve been doing well.”

After the handshake, she sat in the couch near him. “I have been, thanks. I was in the middle of something in the Eternal Sphere though.”

“Ah, well I’m just checking in on you, so we won’t take long. What else have you been doing?”

“I’ve tried out embroidery lately,” she said, indicating her new craft drawers. She picked up a sampler piece that she was working on. It was supposed to be an alphabet, numbers, and flowers, but it was much larger than the others she had done. She was up to ‘J’ thus far. “It’s quite interesting, a mixture of focus and relaxing.”

“I see. Still something of a chore.”

“If you view it that way,” she insisted. “I like having something to show for this hobby. When I get better, I might display them instead of those pictures.” Right now, she had some photos of solar sailboats and some paintings of flowers. They were nice, but her own work would be something to take pride in.

Dr. Hall considered it. “Some people really stick to the sewing hobbies, but many pass on to other interests. We’ll see how you do.”

Unfortunately, nothing she said seemed to sway him on lifting the Sphere restrictions. It was unfair, she thought after he left. Why was he giving her such trouble about finding something to do? The suggestion of starting over on their first meeting was suspicious too. No matter what problems she’d encountered in the past, starting over was usually the last suggestion and had only been made once to her, when her husband had decided to do so. This didn’t seem right. Maybe there had been some goof-up in her butler’s reports.

Well, she’d get properly mad about this later. Celine was supposed to do some shopping for the wedding supplies in Clik. While most of it could be left to auto, she wanted to be there for at least one thing.

C.J. used Tria to put in a maintenance order on her butler, then logged back in.

* * *

 

-Celine, Clik

For a second, Celine felt lost. What was she doing right now? She was in a clothing store…

It didn’t take too long for her to get her bearings back. Right, Claude and Rena had gotten a place on the White Whale under Captain Ishmael. They weren’t leaving until tomorrow, but since the captain wanted to pull out early, the passengers were going to sleep in their cabins instead of at the inns. Since they had the afternoon and evening to spend, they were going to other stores to make sure they had plenty of supplies and look for any helpful tools.

As for her, she had a list of things to pick up while she was here. Much of the wedding supplies would come from the castle town itself, but there were a few things that the advisers, dressmakers, and decorators had insisted to be bought here in Clik. Since she wanted to see her new friends off on their trip, Celine had offered to go with them.

The store itself was… interesting. It claimed to be the latest in fashion, but if this was fashion, Celine didn’t want to be in on it. A pink dress she was looking at seemed to be misshapen, with sleeves that would be way too long on any normal woman. Then there was this blue scrap of a dress that had mostly transparent material, save for certain areas. While she liked to show off her heraldry tattoos, there was such a thing as too much.

Thankfully, she’d been sent here for materials, not a whole outfit. She went up to the store manager, apparently the only one working at that time. “Hi, I’m here to pick up the supplies for the royal wedding.” She showed the letter that proved this.

“Oh sure. I’ll be back in a bit.” He went through a door, then came back with a large box of fabrics. “I’ve already got payment for it, so if you could sign the contract, that’s all we need.” He pulled off the paper that the castle had sent him by pigeon as an order.

Kevin picked up the parcel while Celine signed for it. They then left to put it with the other supplies they had picked up. While the castle had given them a good set of trunks to keep things safe from thieves, Celine added to the security by setting up some H-crystals with shielding spells, so that only she or Kevin could get into the chests.

“I suggest that we go lock this into the stable for the night,” Kevin said as he set the package down in one of the trunks. “Even without any shields of the castle, we might attract unwanted attention.”

“Right, and the last thing we need I can just hide in my purse.” They went up the spiraling road to the entrance of town, then out to leave it with the stable that was taking care of the castle’s horses. Then they went back to Fountain Plaza to enter the jewelry shop.

It was a quality place, with a clean interior and many glass display cases for the pieces they had for sale. A salesperson soon found them. “Good afternoon sir, ma’m. May I help you with anything?”

“I’m looking for wedding rings,” Celine said.

“For the royal wedding,” Kevin interrupted before the clerk could misinterpret anything. “She’s marrying the prince.”

“Really? How wonderful for you. We’ve gotten the notice; our display for wedding rings is over here.” He led them to the center potion of the back wall. There were about three dozen rings in there. One row was all simple gold and silver ones, for those who couldn’t afford much. But then there were more beautiful ones with precious stones and other metals. “We’ve got this lovely pair over here, made of gold with a rare pink rose diamond for the lady and a white diamond for the gentleman. The stones came from Hoffman Island, but the rings were made in Hilton.”

They were quite gorgeous, but she didn’t want to settle on a pair just yet. “They are nice. What about this set?” She pointed to a pair two above the pink rose diamond set.

“This is a clear diamond set, identical save for the bands. The stones are from the Linga mountain range and the rings were made in Linga. There’s also this set,” he pointed to the one between the two. “It’s a rainbow diamond pair, made by a Linga alchemist. That’s a real show of craftsmanship.”

“True.”

Right then, there was a strange sense that something wasn’t right. The glass cases rattled and the items inside trembled. In the backroom, there was a crash as something fell off a shelf. “Is everything okay back there?” the salesperson called.

“It wasn’t too important!” came the reply. “How about in there?”

“Things are jostled around, but it’s okay.”

“At least it was just a minor earthquake,” Celine said.

“Right.” The salesperson opened the display cabinet and set things straight. “Any you want me to bring out while I’m in here?”

She thought about it, dismissing the minor quake for now. While these rings were nice, there was a problem. They’d all been made in Lacour. Somehow, it didn’t feel right to get those. “Do you have any made here in Cross?”

He paused. “Not at the moment, I’m afraid. We sent our stock to Herlie in an exchange for many of the pieces we have on display, including these now very rare sets from Eluria.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.”

“If you really want Cross made jewelry, I recommend going to Salva. They have the best craftsmen on the continent for jewelry without enchantments.”

“Right, that’s what I was thinking. Well thank you for your time.” She curtsied.

“Of course, m’am.”

Outside of the shop, Celine spotted Claude and Rena talking with each other. “Hello, how are you two doing?” she called over to them.

They turned and Rena waved. “Hello! We’ve got everything in order now. We were trying to figure out what to have for dinner.”

“Well there’s lots around to chose from. Take whatever you like.”

Normally, she would have preferred a classy restaurant. But she had learned in her travels that street vendors in busy cities were usually good too, and cheaper. Before long, they all had something to their liking. Claude had found a steaming fresh seafood stew that came with a cornbread slice. Rena had a plate of mixed dumplings and seemed pleased with the various fillings. After some searching, Celine had found rabbit kabobs with various roasted vegetables. Kevin, not wanting to remove too much of his metallic tan armor (he mumbled something about pride and royal honors), had gotten a pita bread stuffed with barbeque meats.

“The vendor wasn’t too open with what kind of meat it was,” Kevin said, eyeing the last portion before eating it.

“Well it can’t be anything deadly,” Rena said in amusement.

“I think it’s goat meat mixed with some other kind,” the knight concluded.

Just then, another small quake hit the plaza. It too wasn’t that bad; the vendors’ goods swayed and the water in the fountain trembled. “Oh my goodness, what’s with the earthquakes today?” Celine asked, gripping her magician’s hat.

“We were in a general store when the last one hit,” Rena said. “This bottle fell off a display shelf and broke and it had the most awful smell.” She wrinkled her nose. “The shop owner said it was monster repellent, but I think it would repel everyone, not just monsters.”

“Hopefully it’s not leading to a large earthquake,” Claude said. He tugged at his brown jacket. “Um, do you think I should get some new clothes while we’re here? I know I look a little conspicuous in this.”

While one couldn’t tell at a distance, his clothes were odd up close. They had an unusual cut and were made of an unfamiliar fabric. Rena giggled. “Yeah, and no one would mistake you for the Warrior in his alien raiment again.”

“Hey!” he said, but just laughed and let it go.

“Well if you want to do that,” Celine said, “don’t be going to that store. They had odd tastes. Try that one over by the docks.”

As they were walking around the fountain, a voice cut through the crowd. “PLEASE leave now! The wind of destruction is coming! This is your last chance. Leave this city for higher ground or you will perish!”

“What is that about?” Rena asked.

“Probably some mistaken doomsday prophetess,” Celine commented.

A short time later, they had cleared enough of the crowd to see the prophetess. She wore a lavender colored cloak with the hood pulled up. Some blue hairs showed underneath the fabric. Although she seemed worried and was pleading all she could, not many people were taking her seriously. “Maybe she has some mental problems,” a woman said as she walked on with her boyfriend.

“The quakes are just the beginning,” the prophetess said. “Soon, a destructive wind will tear through this place, knocking down buildings and tearing up the docks. Then a great cascade of water will come down upon this town, obliterating it entirely. But you have a chance to save yourselves! Leave the city now and no harm will befall you from the events of this evening! GO! There isn’t much time. Please, listen to me.”

“If she’s right, we could be in trouble,” Rena said thoughtfully, putting her hand to her pendant.

“I doubt it,” Celine said. “How could just wind and water destroy a whole town just like that? A bigger earthquake, maybe.”

Kevin looked up to the orange sky. “There’s no storm clouds forming. She’s probably mistaken.”

As people began to drift away, unimpressed, the prophetess looked disappointed. “Won’t you believe me?” she asked quieter. She then noticed their group as they had to get by her in order to reach the clothing store. “Oh… what do you here?”

Since she seemed to direct it at them, Claude asked, “Who do you mean?”

“It’s strange; the both of you carry a different air than the rest.” She scratched her chin, then pulled something out of her cloak. “Probably not them, but maybe you… take this. I hope you get to safety in time tonight.” She tossed something sparkling at them.

Rena caught it. It was a bracelet of a very curious design. For the main structure, there were two golden cords weaving about in a wide braid. In the gaps were various colored gemstones. None of it looked pricey, but it did have a playful prettiness to it. “What’s this?”

“Just a bit of lucky mischief,” she said. “It won’t do you any harm.”

“Excuse me,” a strange voice came from the crowd. A man brushed through people, ignoring any protests. He wore a cloak too, in dark forest green. But his cloak completely covered his body. Aside from a pair of white gloves (which seemed rather large), nothing more could be seen of him. Behind the hood, there just seemed to be shadow and two faint patches of white. “Miss Filia.”

“Oh… Jibril. What are you doing here?”

“I came to retrieve you. What are you doing here? You weren’t to leave.”

She paled and shrank away. “I went to explore around some.”

“It’s not safe for you to be out here. Come, I’ll take you back home.” He took her hand. Although Filia seemed reluctant, she left with the strange man without a word.

“That was odd,” Claude said.

“What is this?” Rena asked, turned the bracelet around in her hands. “I sense some kind of power in it.”

“May I see?” Celine asked.

“Sure.” She handed it over.

She gave it her critical eye. “Well, there’s definitely some enchantment on it. Hmmm…” she took a moment to take a spectacle out of her side pocket; she always kept one there. When she put it to her eye, she could see crest symbols around it. “This is peculiar. I haven’t seen anything like this outside of a book.”

“What?” Rena asked, watching it with curious eyes.

“This particular crest… is a prayer of praise to the goddess of chance. It’s not often used; praying to a chaotic god or goddess can end up doing anything to you. But this is very cunningly made. I think she’s right. It won’t hurt you. It’ll just give you a bit of luck, at random. There shouldn’t be any harm done in wearing it.” As she turned it, she noted something. “Ah, it’s missing a few gemstones. Well if it gives you luck, it probably won’t be much. But who knows? That little bit might just help out.” She handed it back to Rena. “Well the strange prophetess gave it to you. Keep it or do what you will with it.”

“Right.” She turned it again, then smiled. “I think it’s fun and cute myself.” She slipped it on her left wrist as a man with a torch walked by on his round of igniting the street lamps. “Well let’s go check out that store.”

It was mostly outfits that sailors preferred. Even so, it was much better than the so-called fashionable store. Celine pointed out a dark blue robe. “This would look nice on you, Claude.”

He looked uncertain. “You think so…?”

“Why, what’s wrong with it?” She handed the hanger to him. “Lots of people wear this kind of style in Cross.

He took it, but didn’t seem too convinced. “Maybe in Cross, but… where I come from, this isn’t very masculine.”

“You must be from an odd place then,” Kevin said. “That looks to be a pretty nice one, good for a day off wardrobe.”

Blushing, he put it back on the rack. “Maybe.” He turned to check out some shirts instead.

Kevin went ahead and bought the blue robe, saying that he needed a new one anyhow. Claude eventually found some shirts and pants that satisfied him, as well as a traveler’s jacket. Once he paid for them, he changed into the dark brown jacket with a yellow shirt and dark brown pants. “It doesn’t look much different than your other outfit,” Rena noted. “But it does fit in better.”

“Yeah, that’s good.” They walked out of the store. “Hey, anyone up for dessert?”

“I saw this crepe stand over there,” Rena said, pointing to the southern side of the fountain. “It smelled so good. Let’s go to that one.”

True to her word, the crepe stand smelled magnificent, all kinds of fruits, cream, spices, sugar, and the crepes themselves melted together to make a mouth-watering bait. There were two workers there, one whistling while he cooked up the crepes and the other charming the customers as she filled and rolled them. “Hey, we make all our crepes right here,” she said as the four came over. “Do you want any?”

Of course they did. Rena went first, asking for a strawberries and cream crepe, soon getting the luscious and pretty desert on a blue plate, with a spoon. The guys encouraged Celine to go next, so she picked a dark chocolate and raspberry filling, with whipped crème on top. Claude asked for spiced apples, which was topped with the apple syrup. Then Kevin got a gooey banana and whipped crème crepe.

“This was a magnificent idea, darling,” Celine said after a few bites of her chocolate crepe.

“I think so too,” she said, getting some cream on her next part of the crepe. She looked over to Claude, who was looking to the darkening sky for some reason. “Is something on your mind, Claude?”

“Hmm?” He looked down at them, then shrugged. “Not much. Just a little homesick, I guess.”

“Maybe we can go by your home after we check into the Sorcery Globe,” she suggested.

That didn’t seem to encourage him much, strangely. “Maybe.” He went back to eating his crepe, maybe to have an excuse to stop talking.

“We’ll have to split up after this,” Celine said. “We need to check into the inn and you’ll be staying on the boat.”

“Right, it’s been fun.” Rena smiled. “Sorry about missing the wedding, but the captain said that few boats head out to Eluria now. We have to catch this one.”

“I know. Well take care of yourself, darlings. Be careful around the Sorcery Globe, but I hope you find something out.”

“We’ll do our best,” Claude said.

“AHEM!” a voice called out over the crowd. Strangely, it did seem to be over the crowd, from above. When people looked up, they saw a strange sight. There was a man floating there.

At least, it seemed to be a man. He was spidery, with his limbs all stretched out. He seemed to be wearing body armor. However, there were no holes in this armor, not even at the helmet. And it was crimson and silver, strange colors for metal armor. That is, if it was metal. It had a visual dullness that didn’t seem like steel or other armor metals.

“I AM SHIGEO,” his voice boomed over them, seemingly filled with echoes. “WHILE YOUR PRIMITIVE EFFORTS TO UNDERSTAND THE THING YOU CALL THE SORCERY GLOBE HAVE BEEN AMUSING, IT HAS GOTTEN TO THE POINT OF ANNOYANCE. THUS, WE ARE DESTROYING THIS PORT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU STOP SENDING SHIPS OVER FROM HERE. AND, WE’RE KIND OF BORED. THE FATE OF YOUR CITY IS COMING. THE FATE OF YOUR PLANET IS IN THE SKY.”

Then he took off into the sky and vanished.

For a moment, there was a tense feeling in the crowd. No one was sure if they should panic or not. But then, nothing seemed to happen. Finally, somebody called out, “Today’s been just screwy!” Others laughed and began to relax. It wasn’t quite as jovial, though.

“I’d agree with him,” Celine said.

But as they gave back the plates and silverware to the crepe vendors, Clik was shaken yet again. But not from the earth. No, this time the very air seemed to vibrate. Celine felt her ears pop as the air pressure plummeted. It got hard to breathe, like on the tops of mountains. Dirt and lightweight items got sucked upwards.

Now people began to panic. Unfortunately, anyone who screamed fainted or fell down gasping. Rena clasped Celine’s arm, as they were closest. “Wh-what’s going on? This… wind is unnatural.”

“Didn’t that Filia say something about wind?” Claude said. Then his expression turned serious. “We have to get to higher ground!”

Normally in a windstorm, Celine would seek the shelter of indoors or find a dip in the ground that could provide cover. In this case, she didn’t argue. Claude led them to the stairs that went to the overlook cliff. Some others had the same idea, while others tried going indoors or down to the dock warehouses. Given the situation, it was a tough run. The twenty or so people who went up to the overlook were all out of breath by the time they made it up there.

And then the wind blasted downward. Even up on the outlook, people felt the unnaturally high power this wind had. Celine pulled off her hat before it could be blown off, letting her pale blond hair get blown all over. All the dirt and things that had been sucked up came plummeting back down again, faster than they would normally fall. But those weren’t dangerous.

The wind itself was most dangerous. Stone and brick buildings that had withstood years of sea gales could not withstand the destructive wind coming from above. They collapsed as if crushed by invisible hands, most likely killing everyone that had sought shelter inside. From the great howl that came from the wind, one would think that the gods were angry. But there were still no clouds in the sky, or any indication of a storm.

After a few minutes, the wind died off. Celine’s ears popped again now that the atmosphere had come back to normal. Down below, some buildings were still standing, although shorter than they were before. Most everything else was rubble and dust. Fountain Plaza was a mess, with the angel statue smashed and all the vendor carts squashed. Further on, the docks looked to be a total loss. Wood scraps filled the harbor and there didn’t seem to be any ships left.

“Was it an attack from the Sorcery Globe demons?” someone in the crowd asked. Various others began talking amongst themselves. Several of them, mostly the children, started crying.

“Oh my word!” someone up on the highest platform yelled. “Stay up here!”

Celine went up the stairs a bit and noticed that people were looking out to sea. She got up enough to see past a tree and saw that the destruction wasn’t over. While she had seen great waves before, they had all been like large bulges in the ocean. This was more like a vast wall of water, approaching Clik at an unbelievable speed. It crashed ashore with a mighty roar, demolishing anything left standing and drowning the whole town. Along with this, another quake shook the area, collapsing much of the ground Clik was built on. With a second smaller wave, the area that had once been Clik was now a litter-strewn part of the bay.

By some luck, the overlook had not collapsed to the wind, nor the tsunami, nor the earthquake. Most everyone there was upset, lamenting their losses. Celine waved her three companions down and spoke quietly. “It seems you’re out of luck here.”

“This is awful,” Rena said, crying a bit herself out of sympathy. “It didn’t seem natural.”

“No wizard could demolish a city like this in such a short period of time,” Celine said. “Even a group coordinating their efforts couldn’t do this.”

“If those demons are this strong, we’ll have to redouble our efforts,” Claude noted.

“You still have your passport from the king, don’t you?” Kevin said. “You could use it at Herlie to cross over to Hilton and reach the Lacour continent. If his majesty King Cross sends his word ahead of you, then King Lacour would certainly assist you in reaching Eluria.”

“Would that really work?” Rena asked.

He nodded. “Our kings have been at peace for many years, in good alliance.”

“Sounds good.” Claude looked up at the various people of Clik. “Not much we can do to help them,” he said softly. “Is there a path out to the main road from here? We can check to see how the stable fared.”

That seemed like the thing to do, so they climbed down the stairs to the new shoreline. There was a path that managed to keep out of the water, although it was strewn with debris. With them came six others who decided that leaving Clik was probably the best thing to do now.

Thankfully, the stables were in relatively decent shape. “But lots of fences are down and some of the buildings are damaged,” one stable hand told them. “Could you help us look for runaway horses and protect the open areas from monsters?”

“Sure thing,” Claude said, getting agreements from the others.

“Besides, we wouldn’t want to be hooking up the horses when they’re all spooked like this,” Kevin added. “We can leave in the morning.”

Later that evening, Claude came up to Celine. “You doing okay?”

“I’m exhausted,” she said with a weary smile. “You look worn down too.”

“Yeah, it’s been a long day. Hey, but may I ask you about something? Do you know astronomy well?”

She nodded. “Yes, knowledge of the stars is basic instruction for sorcery. What is it?”

He pointed up to the starry sky. “I noticed a star out tonight that I don’t think was out last night. It seems odd… that bright blue one up there.”

When Celine looked, there was a large blue star very close to the Water Maiden constellation. It was very bright, the brightest one in the whole sky. Yet, its light shone like that of a planet, steadier than the rest. “Hmm, that’s odd. From the light, you’d think it was a planet, but there’s no planet that shines blue like that. It’s brighter than even the Shining Eye star of Justice.”

“That is the planet’s fate?” Claude wondered aloud, thinking on the stranger’s words.


	8. Walking and Falling

-Ashe, 4D

It was said that the founders of Fourth Delrina had eliminated all suffering and violence. They almost succeeded at eliminating violence. While there was a lot of violence in the Eternal Sphere, it kept any sort of violence from happening in the 4D world. And they had done pretty good with eliminating suffering as well. There were no diseases and you had to really work hard to get hurt in an accident. Or even on purpose. With no violence, people felt safe and happy. Death was like some fairy tale and the medical network helped immensely if you got sad.

But some forms of suffering did exist. Like being made to get up before your body felt ready.

“Leave me be,” Ashe grumbled as he pulled his pillow over his ears

“You said you had things to do in the Eternal Sphere today,” his butler reminded him.

“It can wait, he’s traveling.”

“No, he’s in Mars studying.”

“Well I can rest a bit longer… gah, okay.” This arguing with the robot had roused him enough that it was going to be hard to get back to sleep. He felt light-headed and achy. Although not quite as bad as being hungover in the Eternal Sphere, it was bad as far as 4D suffering went. “Get me some medicine first, then I’ll shower. I’ll be out for breakfast soon.”

“As you want.” The butler gave him a cloudy white drink, not thick enough to be milk but not clear enough to be pure water. Ashe drank that, then went to the bathroom.

“Think I overdid it at that last party,” he grumbled. He’d made friends with the bunny girl from Jubilee Square; her name was Bonita. Bonita really liked the party scene and had invited Ashe to several more since. Last night’s event had been rather wild, enough to make him feel uncomfortable at the start. After a while, he had sort of gotten into it. It had just went on too late before he realized it and now he didn’t have much sleep.

He still felt bad when he was done showering, although it did help clear up his head. Then the medicine finished kicking in. The aches went away, although he didn’t feel quite as energetic as usual.

After a breakfast of poached eggs and toast, he checked on a craft site that gave out hobby models. He had been on this hobby for quite some time now, building models of sailing ships, star ships, air ships, and other vehicles if they caught his fancy. The way the site worked started simple, but could get complicated. One started with some basic models which cost nothing. When complete, the crafter sent a scan of it to the company, who judged it and assigned it points based on a variety of factors. The crafter would then be able to use those points to buy a newer model.

But when one got good enough, just having the points wasn’t enough to get a new model. There were special offer models available if one logged onto the site at the right times. And in order to get a good reputation in the model crafting hobby, one had to acquire one of the rare models that were worth a lot of points if completed well. Ashe was looking for a good rare to crack the million point barrier. He currently had 860,375 points.

On checking the site at that time, there were six special offers: a triple-mast galleon, a set of six starfighters, a Roak king’s ship, an exotic Tetragenes sports car, a rare horse-drawn trade wagon, and a rare Pangalactic scientific research starship.

Ashe quickly selected on the Pangalactic starship. It had been a highly anticipated model that had been announced a while ago, but hadn’t yet shown. Although there wasn’t any information on point-earning potential, being one of the first set to complete a model was known to be worth more than usual. It cost him half a million points, but he usually got the cost back and then some. In order to get it doubled, he’d have to craft this one with great care.

Happy with that find, he went up to his game room to log into the Eternal Sphere. The model wouldn’t arrive for a while, so he could catch up on what Ashton was doing. And even better, he now had a quest that would net him a lot of prestige if things went well. Most players would be confident, but Ashe knew that with his challenge play, he couldn’t let himself get too comfortable.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Mars library

There were a number of references to demons in this library. There were a number of other references to dragons too. When he cross-checked for demon dragons, around a dozen books came up. He knew quite a bit more now. But did he know the important stuff in defeating one?

“Are you finding what you want?” an older voice said.

He looked up to see one of the elders of Mars looking over the shelves next to him. “I think,” he said.

“Are you looking for new crests? Your basic ones there are grass and…”

“Lightning,” he said, showing the back of his right hand. “Thanks, but no… have you heard of the demon dragon in Salva Drift? I’m looking to defeat that monster.”

“I have heard about that. They would welcome someone who could.” His eyes drifted to the shelves as he thought. “Travelers say that it is of the elements of Fire and Ice. It has two heads, but uses one element for one head. As it is a demon, it would hold some of the powers of the demon world. Take some protection blessed against demons with you, and to fire and ice if you can afford it besides the holy charms. With your elements, the fire head would be the tougher of the two to take down. But such beasts are known to revive their other heads if you leave one alert for too long.”

“So I should try to take out the fire head first,” Ashton thought aloud. His other two elements who help take down the ice head faster.

“That would be wise. Good luck, young man.”

Feeling more confident, he left the library. At the door, he nearly ran into an odd character in a blue hooded jacket. “Pardon me,” he said, then went out to leave the village. He wondered why the guy had been dressed like that. It made him look like one of the gang of bandits that hung around Herlie. Although it could have been one of them, Ashton doubted it. They usually steered clear of the ‘haunted’ woods near Mars.

He then began the walk to his next goal, Cross Castle. Technically, it would have been a shorter walk to cut across the farms and wild countryside to Salva. Realistically, he knew that the farming lords could be a hassle to a lone traveler and the countryside was truly wild, with many monster nests. The road which led to the castle town, then to Salva was the faster route.

A couple of hours into the trip, he looked off the roads and spotted something in the open fields. “Blackberry bushes?” he said softly to himself. “I wonder if they have any ripe fruits.” He left the road and went to go check them out.

Blackberries were highly valued by travelers like himself. They were good for a quick energy boost and they made one feel better after an exhausting battle. According to Bowman, blackberries had natural and potent healing properties, if you knew how to prepare them right. Finding fresh blackberries would be a large boon, especially considering that he was getting into. They would spoil or get squashed by the time he reached Salva, though.

On the other hand, he could harvest what he could reasonably take, then go into castle market and trade them for preserved berries, which would last a great deal longer than fresh. He could also make a small profit doing this when the picking would only take a few minutes. Ashton figured it was a good idea.

When he got close enough to inspect, he saw that the bushes were in various stages. Some had flowers, others had nubs, some had unripe fruit, but a fair amount had ripe and ready berries. Ashton pulled out a small bag from his traveler’s pack and set about to picking some. One always had to watch out for bugs while doing this, but he found enough clean ones that he felt safe in eating a few himself.

He filled up his bag, so put it away. He then noticed a young man with blue hair coming into the field as well. Giving a friendly wave, Ashton called out, “Hey, there’s plenty of berries around if you need them. Didn’t I see you in Lasguss?”

“Yes, what of it?” he asked.

Still too cold, Ashton thought. “Nothing really, just good to see that you made it through safely. So, ah… careful of the snakes around here. I saw a venomous slint under the bushes over there.”

The swordsman shrugged and began checking over the bushes. Ashton figured it was better to move on at that point.

* * *

 

-C.J., 4D

On flipping through various message boards, C.J. found a topic that bothered her. Titled ‘Are they forcing life restarts?’, the TC had noted that the doctors were pushing starting his life over more often as he got older. ‘Before, it was just extreme circumstances that got that option to be mentioned, and even then it was discouraged,’ he had written. ‘Lately though, it seems like any report of trouble of any sort will get this brought up for me. One time the doctor was quite pushy about it. They make me think that I’m doing a foolish thing to continue living this life when we know that we’re immortal. Heck, it’s said that some lifetime workers have never restarted and no one brings up the issue with them. But I’m just an ordinary citizen and it looks like they want me to give up.’

It looked like other older citizens were also getting this restart option dumped on them every time. And that included Sphere restrictions. ‘When they start doing that, you really have to fight to prove that you want to live,’ someone had added. ‘They don’t say it directly, but the message is that you should complete all business here in 4D and there in the Eternal Sphere, then forget everything and enter a virtual death. And I don’t have proof of this, but I swear that any time I get a restriction, my luck goes way up and my games almost complete themselves, or get to a point where it forces a genre shift. Especially with the marriage shifts. It seems like I get marriage proposals or confessions of true love right after I get a restriction placed, within days, sometimes just hours.’

That was how it was with Chris and Celine, C. J. realized. Shortly after Dr. Hall had put a restriction on her account, Chris had opened up to her. And he had managed to grow enough backbone in order to tell Rozelia straight out that he wasn’t going to marry her. When she had first encountered him, he had been close to panicking because a restaurant owner was ranting at him about not paying for a cup of tea. He was the Prince, so she could assume that he’d never had to deal with that kind of obligation directly before. Was it entirely her interference, or was it tampering on behalf of the medical community who wanted her to start over?

From reading through, there were many stories like this. One poster seemed to have a valid theory. ‘I think they really do want us to restart our lives after we’ve lived for a certain amount of time. Don’t you remember being on the waiting list for a child? Everyone would love to have a baby to care for, but the government is insistent that we cannot outgrow 4D. Since our population can’t grow, how do you get new children? You have to force the older members to die so you can reform them into infants! But then when those infants grow up, they will want children, but they will force their children of a previous lifetime to die in order to have those new children. We’re kind of terrible when you think of it that way.

‘Or, it could just be the government’s way of controlling us, so that no one lives long enough to realize it.’

That was depressing to think about. But the whole point was to keep herself from being depressed, so that they didn’t force a restart on her. C.J. made a post validating things like the sudden luck and declarations of love upon receiving a Sphere restriction. ‘I don’t feel ready to do this. Anyone know how to convince the doctors to stop being so pushy? I got one called on me just because I was getting bored between hobbies!’

After marking the topic so she could be notified of new posts, she logged back into the Eternal Sphere. It really did seem like the game was trying to make her wrap things up with Celine. Just to be sure, she checked on her other profile

 

_Planet-Tetragenes (home), Expel (destination)_

_Character- Opera Vectra_

_Style- adventure_

_Quest status- Searching for Ernest_

_Play as Opera?_

 

It had been a while. Might as well check on her, C.J. thought.

* * *

 

-Opera, approaching Expel

Space was vast… vastly boring, especially if one was traveling alone. But things were about to get exciting again, she thought. A new planet lay head of her, a blue-green jewel speck in the blackness of space.

Opera looked over the data file for this planet. It was laughable how scant the Federation’s information on this planet was. Obviously, they were going to be careful with an underdeveloped planet with a sentient species. But some people weren’t so careful. That included her boyfriend, Ernest.

The silly man… he had been her archaeology professor when she was a graduate student. However, the university could never really control him. He would hear of some intriguing ruin on some outlying world and zip off to go see for himself. But he was tenured and too popular with the students when he was actually on campus. Most of the time, he kept in good contact and would be back in a week or two. This time, he had been gone three months. So what was the university staff to do?

Obviously, send an equally nutty professor to run out and fetch him.

As the daughter and heir of a massively successful business family, she had the money and means to go planet hopping on her own. As a professor of history and sociology of tribal cultures, she had plenty of experience with developing planets. Usually they weren’t this advanced; she noted that although Expel didn’t have a wide network, they did have local electrical power and water systems. She could probably get away with most of her things. Most. She picked up her pulse rifle and started modifying it. On worlds without guns, she could manage to pass it off as a strange club.

Yes, the UP3 laws were silly at times. However, there were just some things that one shouldn’t do on a low technology planet. A gun could get one mistaken for a goddess which, while nice, was terribly detrimental to the young society and dangerous if the locals learned that the power was all in the ‘club’.

There was something more worrisome, though. Opera could look out the viewing screen and see a massive pale green energy body hanging around this star system. Shaped like a swirl around an orb of light, it was a Class 9 energy body, which by all rights should be a long ways away from here. That’s where it had last been recorded, but here it was. It did absolutely nothing.

That really was what was most bizarre, maybe worrisome, about it. A galactic body of that force should usurp the sun’s lead and make the system revolve around it. Or worse, fall into it the native star, leading to its spectacular demise. The energy body could get away from that kind of explosion with barely a ripple of disturbance in its flow. So what was it doing nothing here for?

Well, it wasn’t like there was some intelligence behind its positioning. Opera finished up her gun modification. In a pinch, it could be used to fire some shots, but they wouldn’t be near as powerful as the gun was unmodified. She did a quick brushing of her long hair and considered changing her clothes. She looked classy and sexy on her planet, but what about this one? When she landed, she should make some quick observations of locals to find something suitable. She could get the computer to make her a few outfits that wouldn’t look too alien.

“Emergency landing preparations started,” the computer abruptly announced.

Opera froze. “Landing? We aren’t that close yet.”

The console flickered, but all the numbers looked good. In fact, they looked just like they had the last time she had checked. “The energy field of the Class 9 body has caused a fatal chain of glitches. Remain seated and fasten safety harness as the life capsule is contained.”

After grabbing her bag of travel supplies and her gun, she strapped herself into the pilot’s chair. A circle of metal came up around the chair and encased her. These emergency capsules always made her feel claustrophobic. She soon felt it separate from the main ship; a window became unblocked so she could see around her. The ship itself didn’t even have a trail of smoke or fire, just a glowing mass because the atmospheric protectors couldn’t turn on in time. Falling like a dead hunk of metal, it crashed into a desert that lay past some mountains.

On the other hand, the escape capsule managed to remain functional. Using backwards thrust jets, it slowed its descent. This got it far separated from the main ship. She could see that it was heading for a thick forest that stood near a small village. Off in the distance, there was a grand white castle.

She quickly made the decision to get away from the small village quickly. It was out of the way, so fewer people would be passing through. Although Ernest would certainly be at some abandoned ruins, he had to go into a town to get supplies, and a bigger town meant it was more likely she’d encountered someone who’d seen him. She could also get locations of such ruins at a bigger town.

Then again… when she looked around, it seemed that she was falling deep within this thick forest. It could take her some time to get out.

“Just great, Ernest,” Opera said quietly. “I come looking for my sweetheart and I wind up crashing out too.”


	9. Old Friends

-Dias, Mars

When Dias entered the town, he immediately noticed that the citizens were tense and worried. There was some trouble here. It didn’t concern him; he just wanted a room at the inn for the night and an open store. But even before he could look for those places, he had to get through a large group of carts and wagons, filled with harried looking people. In the end, even his indifference couldn’t stop him from wondering what was going on.

“I’m telling you, Clik got destroyed with unnatural powers,” the apparent leader told one of the Mars elders. “We all lost our homes.”

“We’d love to help, but our village isn’t safe at this time,” the elder replied. “Please, you should move on for your own sakes. I mean this as kindly as I can.”

How strange. But not really his concern. They might turn away a mass of refugees, but they wouldn’t turn down a single traveler. Especially not one who could take care of himself. Dias headed for the store that was south of the entrance.

It was a homey little place, with all sorts of magical trinkets on sale. Some were quite worthless, but he’d found some useful charms and potions here before. Behind the counter, the little old woman who ran the shop sat in a rocking chair. She smiled warmly at him. “Hello, Master Flac. Passing through again?”

“As always.” He put his bag on the counter and began taking things out. “I have some herbs and berries to exchange, as well as this talisman.” He placed the Talisman necklace on the counter; while useful, he needed the money to get to Lacour.

“Right. Gertrude?”

“Yes Granny.” A young woman in a small green dress and a white lacy cloak came up to check the items. Since he only needed supplies for himself, he managed to refill his stock and get some fol. It wasn’t much, but money was money.

“Excuse me,” a young man in a green cloak said, coming up to the counter. “You’re Dias Flac, right? The famous swordsman?”

“Of course,” he said, although he didn’t like his own fame that much. It got him unnecessary attention, like now.

“Oh good… could you help us? We have some problems with a gang of bandits who’ve managed to get into Heraldry Forest.”

“The ones that kidnapped the children?” the young woman behind the counter asked, pausing in counting the money.

“Bandits?” The village’s problems weren’t his, but Dias despised anyone who used violence against children. And if they meant, “You mean Zand’s men?”

“That’s who they say they are,” the young man answered.

Zand. He was the king of bandits around Cross and Dias hated him more than any other creature on Expel. If he could just find a hint on that filthy fiend, he would track Zand down and kill him mercilessly, no matter what it cost him. This was just his swines, but it didn’t matter. Dias very nearly gave his word right there that he would do something about this. His common sense kicked in just in time. “I’ll consider it once I know more about this situation. Are you in charge of this effort against them?”

“No, but I’ll introduce you to the elder who is.”

He nodded. “All right.”

“Here’s your fol,” the shop girl said.

“And good luck,” the old woman added.

“I don’t need luck.” Dias followed the young man out of the shop.

They went to the other side of the main road, where the village leader lived next to the town library. There was quite a group already, the various experts of the village trying to decide what to do. The young man came up and bowed. “Elder, this is Dias Flac, the swordsman. I thought he could be helpful with the bandit problem.”

A man there in a similar cloak (save for the large master of heraldry pin and an odd green stone on a leather string) looked skeptical. “What are you doing here?”

“Making my way to Lacour for the Tournament of Arms,” he replied bluntly. “But I heard of your problem in the store and I couldn’t ignore it when children are in danger.”

“Well thank you very much,” one man said. “I’m sure you’ll be a big help.”

“We don’t know this man,” the master complained.

“You haven’t heard of young Master Flac? He’s one of the best swordsmen in Cross.”

“He may stay,” the Elder decided for the rest. “We’re still waiting on a few others.”

The young man who’d brought him here left, but as he went out, about six people came in. Why were they wasting time? Dias closed his eyes from the foolishness for a bit until he heard something that was meaningful to him. “…Rena of Arlia…”

Opening his eyes back up, he looked over to see a Mars sorceress introducing a few people she’d brought in. It included a sixteen-year-old girl with short blue hair and a short red cape. She had grown considerably since he’d last seen her and was quite the pretty young lady. But then, it had been several years since he had last seen his other little sister. He hoped that the two young men who seemed to be with her were treating her well.

Rena happened to glance his way and recognize him. “Dias?”

He nodded. “Good to see you, Rena.”

She gave him a bright smile, but held back on saying anything more. The village head had started the meeting. “Thank you all for coming so quickly, and a special thanks to you travelers who’ve agreed to help us.”

“It’s not like we could do nothing when we heard about it,” the blond man with Rena said.

Taking off his red hat, the elder ran his hand through his hair. “Now, as for what happened… last evening, three children of this village went missing. Since they were friends and often spent time at each other’s houses, the disappearance was not noticed until this morning when their parents tried to find out where their sons and daughter were. It still did not seem bad, as they may have thought it some prank or game to hide out for the night. But then we got a message from a bandit, who carried a lock of hair from each of the children.

“He told us that they were holding the children hostage inside Heraldry Forest. The bandits have demanded a ransom of 500,000 fol and the ‘Book of Secret Seals’ in exchange for the children. Also, they seem to be intent on staying put until their demands are met.” He then looked to the heraldry master who had opposed to Dias’ presence.

“The Heraldry Forest is dense with magic,” he stated. “We use it to practice our spells and learn new crests. But there are strong protective seals on the forest itself and only certain people know how to undo the seals to enter safely. The forest also makes for a formidable natural fortress and that is just during the day. At night, it becomes a place of the fae. No sane person would enter the Heraldry Forest at night, and if they did, they would not be sane when they left. The fact that the kidnappers were able to get in and claim a base there means that these are no mere bandits. The fae can also change the paths of the forest, so giving directions is vague at best.”

“Are the children all right?” Rena asked, fingering her pendant in a worried way.

“Yes, we know that much,” the elder said. “We could not do nothing as well and as a result of a quiet search, we have found where the bandits are hiding the children. They’re in a cabin deep in the forest. It’s known as a safe haven if one cannot leave before nightfall, so the fae cannot touch them. Our scout was unable to get into the cabin, though he could see through the windows. There’s a new lock on that door. Now we need to get into the forest, break into the cabin, and rescue the children before the bandits realize we’re there.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” one of the sorceresses said with confidence.

Had she not been listening? Dias felt annoyed. Having trained in the forest himself, he knew how dangerous it was. Especially to him, a pure swordsman who didn’t use magic. He’d been told that magic users too had trouble, as if they didn’t have full control over their spells, they would certainly lose control within that forest. And while the fae may have chosen cute and harmless appearances, they chose that. Anything of the fae could be dangerous if one underestimated it. Not to mention the bandits themselves.

“Excuse me,” the blond man said, “but what’s the Book of Secret Seals? If they can undo the Heraldry Forest seals, why would they want it?”

“It is an ancient text that we do not allow to leave the village,” the elder said. “It deals with seals on worse things: demons of all sorts, the strongest fae, old curses. We have also used it to record where such seals are, so that none are tampered with in ignorance. If someone of evil intentions were to get a hold of the book, they would know where other evils are sealed and how to unseal them.”

“It is grave enough when children are involved,” a man in a blue long coat said. “But this makes it extremely vital that we succeed.”

At the head of the table, the elder got up and retrieved a large piece of parchment. He spread the map of Heraldry Forest on the table. “There are many paths in the forest, and as mentioned earlier, they can change nightly.” He pointed out a mark about two miles in. “And this is where the children are being held. Anyone who enters the forest needs to know the appropriate unsealing spells or carry a charm that will allow you to pass through them. The bandits also seem to be hiding in other similar cabins throughout the forest. I believe it would be best to have a couple groups beside the rescuers enter the forest to get the attention of the bandits. Who will go into the forest?”

Dias volunteered immediately. It required no thought. However, he did have reason to worry when Rena and her friends also volunteered. There was the blond man Claude (who was another swordsman), a local sorceress in Celine, and royal knight named Kevin (who was insistent on protecting the sorceress, although nothing about it suggested romantic reasons). A few other local magic users also volunteered. But he’d rather not have Rena in danger too.

Also, there was another problem. “Your plan seems fair,” Dias said. “But I work best alone. Anyone else would be an encumbrance to the mission.”

“There’s a great number of these bandits, though,” Celine replied. She looked annoyed at the suggestion that the rest of them would be an encumbrance.

“I know, but smaller groups would be able to move quicker and unnoticed. No more than three would be ideal. I would rather be on my own.”

“That is a good point too,” the elder said. “I’ll hand out the key charms to whoever feels they need them. Since night is rapidly approaching, we’ll set out early tomorrow.”

Dias didn’t stay around after that. He already had a key charm to the forest, as he had spent several months training his sword skills against fae spellcasters there. Not wanting the others to try attaching themselves to him, he went across town to the inn in order to check in.

Like it or not, it hadn’t worked. He glanced back at the opening door as the innkeeper handed him a key. “I thought you’d do this, Rena.”

She was smiling, though. “Why not, Dias? It’s been so long since I’ve seen you last. You’ve changed.”

“Not as much as you have; you were quite shorter then.” He started up the stairs. “What are you traveling for?”

Rena came up behind him. “Claude and I are trying to get to Eluria to investigate the Sorcery Globe. But things happen… Clik got destroyed. We’re helping out Celine for a bit because she’s helped us, then we’ll be trying the ports at Lacour. What about you?”

He shrugged. “The usual. I am heading towards Lacour too. The Tournament of Arms is coming up.”

“How exciting. Maybe I’ll get to see you there.”

“Maybe.” He paused at the top of the stairs and turned to her. “The Sorcery Globe is a dangerous thing. I haven’t been to Eluria since it fell, but I’m certain of that. Are you certain you want to be going there?”

“I’ll be fine; Claude will be with me. He’s good with a sword, like you. And I’m learning more spells. We’ll be okay.”

“Still, don’t put yourself in unnecessary danger.” Dias checked his key, then looked for Room 3. There were seven doors in this hall, and his was in the middle on the left side.

“May I come with you tomorrow?’ Rena asked. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”

“This is a serious situation,” he reminded her, unlocking his room. It was a standard room, with three beds, a table, several chairs, and a folding screen. This inn didn’t have any single bed rooms, which he usually took to save money.

“I know, but I want to.”

When he looked back to her, Dias could see that she was worried, a bit sad. “Your friends didn’t like that, did they?” he asked.

She fiddled with her pendant, a sure sign of nervousness. “Well I tried to explain it to them, but Celine seem angry at you for some reason. Have you crossed her before?”

He didn’t really pay much attention to others. “I don’t think so. She seemed too confident in her own powers, though. It won’t be as easy as she thinks. You may want to go back to help them.”

“But I want to go with you,” Rena pleaded, clasping her hands together. “I won’t slow you down, and my powers have been getting stronger. I’m sure the others will be okay…”

With anyone else, he would have strictly said no. They wouldn’t have even gotten to his room, as he would have shut the door to their face. Dias knew he could take care of himself. But, Rena was different. She was like another member of his family, which made her the only one left. She and his actual sister Cecile had been so close as little girls that they had been like twin sisters. As such, he had been big brother to both of them, with all the teasing and protectiveness that the role carried. Such things had been destroyed a few years back, though.

Almost destroyed. Dias sighed. “I can tell that I’m not going to talk you out of this. Fine. I’d better go pick up some more supplies. Be sure to get to sleep early tonight; I intend to leave as early as possible.”

She was cheered considerably by this. “Of course, thank you. I’ve heard people say that you’ve gotten really cold lately, but I can see you’re still Dias. I mean, you’re doing this even though it has no benefit to yourself. Cecile’s happy for you too.”

He nodded some. “Good to know. I’ll be back shortly.” He took his wallet and headed back to the store. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear her,” he said to himself as he walked down the stairs. “Heaven is just too far away for that.”

When he got back, Rena had moved the folding screen so that one bed was blocked off from the others. Good for her, he thought. There was still some time left as the sun’s rays dwindled, so they talked. Rena mostly.

“There’s been some trouble with Alen, though,” she told him. “They had found a new vein of Energy Stone deep in Salva Drift, including this one stone that was bigger than both of my fists together.” She showed this by putting one on top of the other. “It made him act very strangely. He took me from Arlia and tried to force me to marry him.”

“Alen did that?” Dias said, some anger rising at that. Before, Alen had been his best friend. Even though he was from a different town, he was in Arlia often. They would play with the two girls in Shingo Forest, sometimes practicing with wooden swords against each other. Alen wasn’t that good, but he would always laugh at his own mistakes.

“Well he wasn’t fully himself at the time,” Rena explained, showing no bitterness towards Alen. “That Energy Stone was demonic and really warped his thoughts. The cook said that he would hardly do anything for days, just looking at and polishing this stone. And Claude saved me before I got hurt so it all turned out well.”

“I see.” She seemed to be into this Claude person. He might want to check into the guy. Although he didn’t want to tie himself down to anything or anyone, he still couldn’t let go of Rena without knowing she was okay.

“And when the stone he had shattered and lost its glow, he returned to normal. It was a strange thing. And that wasn’t the first time Claude saved me.” She blushed a bit.

A small smile crept onto his face. “Really? Are you getting into trouble?”

“Not on purpose,” she said, laughing. Once she quieted, she explained. “I was taking a walk in Shingo Forest one afternoon. The animals have been acting strangely the past few months, but they usually let you know they’re there before you’re really in trouble. But this one ape monster snuck up on me. It almost attacked me, but then he called out and defeated it soundly. That was actually the time I met Claude.” She put her hand to her mouth, stifling a giggle. “We all thought he was the Warrior at first.”

“Is that so? He doesn’t seem like it.”

“Well he’s gotten new clothes recently, but the ones he first had were like alien raiment. Not quite glowing and all the stuff we thought when we were kids, just this brown and black outfit with strange badges that have indecipherable writing. And he had some weapon that emitting a burst of brilliant light. He says it’s broken now and it’s not exactly a sword of light. Oh, and he speaks so strangely too.”

Speaks strangely? That wasn’t something he recalled from the Warrior legends. “He sounded all right to me.”

“That’s because you weren’t looking at him,” Rena said. “You know how some people can read lips and find out what people are saying? You can’t do that with Claude. His words are perfectly understandable, but it doesn’t look like he’s saying the words right. It’s kind of bothersome at first, but you get used to it.”

“So is he the Warrior?”

“He says he’s not and he didn’t understand it at all when we first spoke about it. But sometimes I still wonder. He says he’s a traveler, but he doesn’t know anything about the Cross continent, like Clik or Herlie. Or Lacour, it seems like, and he didn’t know what the Sorcery Globe was or what it was doing to everyone.”

Dias considered that. “Then how did he get into Shingo Forest? There are no major ports on the southern coastline.”

“I don’t know. He won’t say. And he didn’t seem to be traveling to any particular place.”

“Maybe he’s lying.”

“I doubt that,” she said, quick to Claude’s defense. “I mean, who would pretend to be that ignorant? Besides, he’s a good person and you’d think he was perfectly normal now, aside from his speech and having to explain just about everything to him.” She paused, then said, “Sorry about going on like that. I think he does know something, but isn’t saying it for some reason. I wish he would, though.”

“I hope it’s nothing dangerous.” He glanced out the window. There was only light from magic torches outside. “We’d better turn in for the night. We’ll need to be well rested for tomorrow.”

“Right. Good night Dias.” She got up and went behind the screen.

“Good night Rena.” He went to one of the other beds and was soon asleep.

* * *

 

-C.J., 4D

The sewing sampler could get frustrating. She wouldn’t always know a mistake right off; it was usually further along that she noticed that a letter looked off or a stitch was out of place. At that point, she’d have to undo a lot of stitches just to fix that one. But when she got something right, it felt good. It might take some time, but she felt that this would look quite pretty when she got finished.

After fixing the N and getting up to R, she put the piece aside to check into the Eternal Sphere. Opera was struggling through the Shingo Forest. She had adequate wilderness experience, but she was stuck with the outfit she had crashed in, a white blouse, a slim red skirt with a long slit in the side, and heels. At least they were relatively reasonable heels, she considered. C.J. had designed Opera to be conscious of her looks and strive to always look her best, even under bad situations like this.

Just to see, she checked on Celine’s progress. She should be headed towards Salva now, after the wedding rings. However, her profile listed a new quest. ‘Rescue the kidnapped children in Heraldry Forest with Claude and Kevin.’

“Looks like I picked a fine day to leave Celine on auto,” she said sarcastically. Still, the stalling was okay in her mind. It gave her longer to keep the character going. But she really didn’t want it to break her relationship with Chris. That had taken so much time and effort to set up.

This kind of quest was one a player did not want to leave on auto, though. Opera could manage in the forest she was in just fine on auto. But a rescue quest like that earned prestige points if the player was actively working on it. Although she no longer cared about having a high prestige rating, it was the kind of thing she definitely didn’t want to get too low. It might even affect her restrictions.

C.J. logged in as Celine.

* * *

 

-Dano, 4D

Discussion Topic: How many characters do you play?

Topic Reply 165, by Dano: I only play one, although I’m cleared for up to six. I don’t see the point in having that many games running at once.

Topic Reply 168, by Trent: Why would some of you guys only play as one character? That’s boring. Just leave it on auto to grind, then play another that’s actually doing something interesting. I wish I had up to six; I keep dropping one character or another because I get new ideas all the time.

Topic Reply 170, by Dano: Trent, you have no focus. You can master a character’s abilities by focusing on that one. If you play multiple games at once, you run the risk of winding up with a bunch of mediocre characters because of dumb things they decided when on auto. Characters on the Milky Way server especially tend to get side-tracked if you let them run auto too long.

Topic Reply 171, by Trent: That’s why I always pick the reliable or focused character trait, so they don’t do stupid stuff like that. You’re being too narrow-minded about this.

Topic Reply 172, by Lass: Why so serious, guys :P? It’s just a game, get over yourselves. Anyhow, I play two characters, one to vent with and one to have silly fun with.

Topic Reply 173, by Trent: Well you’re just being a fool, Lass. I can show off how awesome I am with my four characters. That’s how I got to be the best player on my planets, although those dumb prestige raters keep skipping me over.

Topic Reply 174, by Dano: No need to insult anyone. We all play differently. Besides, the prestige charts aren’t watched by ‘raters’, they’re run by numbers, how well you play, and how people in the community view you.

Topic Reply 176, by Trent: There are raters! It’s a conspiracy to control who gets power in the Eternal Sphere. They downplay the really good players and inflate the popular ones.

Topic Reply 178, by Jan: You shouldn’t be arguing with Dano, Trent. He has way more prestige than you, by being a real good player and very informed poster.

Topic Reply 179, by Trent: I doubt it. He’s probably got some friend in the company and sucks up to them. Nobody around here recognizes true genius!

 

Dano had to force himself to keep from replying. Trent was just being a troll, whining about how he couldn’t get recognized for probably mediocre play. On the other hand, Dano had worked hard to get his prestige rating where it was. And it was serious business. Due to the way the world of 4D ran, the best way to earn recognition, respect, and power outside of getting a permanent job early on was to have a high prestige rating on the Eternal Sphere.

Everyone was on the Eternal Sphere. All other game companies, immersion or not, had folded centuries ago. However, it was nigh impossible to actually get hired by the Sphere Company. They kept their workers close, including keeping those who had restarted in the company building, Sphere 211. All other permanent jobs, the government, the medical network, the few odds and ends jobs that weren’t fully taken by robots, were assigned when the job holder was still in primary level school. If one did not get that kind of job, the best shot at power of any kind was within the Eternal Sphere.

Or by becoming a hacker, Dano considered. But hackers were terrible people, the worst criminals that 4D produced (and the worst that it could produce). It worked by cheating at everything. That made things horribly unfair. Thankfully, there were few hackers these days. He had heard a news story just this morning about a large bust of two dozen hackers who had been audacious enough to put a wooden pirate ship in space and have a drinking party on board. What idiots.

To keep his mind of the troll Trent, Dano decided to log in. It was time for Dias and Rena to head into the forest.

* * *

 

-Dias, Mars

The predawn light coming in the window was strengthening. Dias blew out the candle he had lit a short while ago. “Are you up, Rena?”

“I am,” she said, a touch of grogginess still there. “It’s so early.”

“I want to get in there before the bandits suspect anyone is coming. Surprise is key.” He put his notebook and pencil away in his bag.

Adjusting her bag, Rena came out from behind the screened area. “What were you doing with the candle?”

He considered not saying anything, but felt she could keep a secret. “Writing poetry.”

She smiled to that. “Really? You still keep with that too?”

“Mostly I just copy down ones I like to read through later on, but a few are my own.” He looked right into her eyes. “But don’t go telling anyone that, all right?”

Giggling at his insistence, she nodded. “Okay, if that’s what you want. I think it’s a wonderful hobby to keep.”

They left the inn quietly. It was early enough that the innkeeper wasn’t up. Since he had left a few of his more valuable things in his room, to keep his load light, Dias kept the key in his coat pocket. There was no one outside either, so the village was quiet, save for the cool wind blowing through the trees.

“We won’t go in just yet,” Dias said quietly. “We’ll wait until the sun shows itself. Then the fae will have less power and we can move ahead.”

Rena just nodded. She was fiddling with her pendant again.

“If you’re nervous, you can still stay behind,” he told her. “Once we enter Heraldry Forest, we can’t hesitate. Both to catch the bandits by surprise and to make sure the forest doesn’t catch us by surprise.”

“I’m still going,” Rena replied.

“Just checking. Also, if we run into a child in the forest, make sure to check its eyes first and foremost.”

“Its eyes?” she asked, giving him a puzzled look.

“We’re looking for children with human eyes. Some fae can shift their bodies, appearing like helpless children or elderly folks. But they cannot shift their eyes, which can glow or have no color at all. If it doesn’t have human eyes, don’t trust it.”

“Ah, okay.”

After a minute, a true sunray shot across the village and the sun appeared on the horizon. Dias and Rena entered the forest. The light quickly dimmed back to predawn levels. It would be some time before the sun could reach the forest floor, but they were safe enough now. All around, lush plants grew, leaving all sorts of loose branches and brambles all over the ground. The trees towered overhead, turned the sky emerald with flecks of pale blue. Birds were singing their songs and animals were scurrying in the underbrush. However, this forest was dark and had a powerful soul. Dias could feel it. It was very different than Shingo’s peaceful and calm soul.

There was a footpath, marked by many stones. It branched off to the east and west. However, the east branch quickly ended in a group of thorn bushes. The west branch turned and obscured its way.

“When I first came in here, I was explicitly told to stay on the footpaths,” Dias said quietly. “For this forest, we must do so. Many plants here have poison and thorns, while even the smallest animals can use heraldry. Add in the strong fae populations and straying from the path is a very bad idea.”

“Okay, but how do we find out way to the cabin? If there’s lots of forks, we could lose track.”

“That’s simple to solve and will help any who follow us. Let’s go.”

“If you say so.” She followed him.

After several twists and turns, the path gave them three ways to choose: east, north, and west. There wasn’t an obvious dead end to any of the choices. Dias knelt down and picked up a few small rocks. He then piled them on the eastern path. “This is a cairn. It’s well-known to travelers the directions it gives.” He made a second cairn on the path back to town, but arranged the rocks differently, to indicate the path back to Mars.

“I see.”

“Let’s keep quiet from here on out.” They continued by following the eastern path.

* * *

 

-Celine, Mars

As Celine prepared herself for the day ahead, she found herself reviewing the events of yesterday. They had left the ruins of Clik with a number of other carts and wagons. Many survivors of the tragedy came with them, although they could only fit a child named Ketil and the maid watching after him on their cart with them. They had stopped off on meeting a very nice stagecoach that was taking Ketil’s mother to a meeting in Cross; they then left the child and maid with her.

On reaching Mars, they tried to stop, but one of the elders refused to let them stay. Since he said it was a problem the village had, she talked the others into stopping to find out what. It turned out that three children of Mars had been kidnapped and were being held for ransom. Thankfully, the rest of her group agreed to help out.

Another who was helping was a young man named Dias Flac. Celine had heard of him, supposedly the best swordsman in Cross. However, he had been so rude and cold to everyone. He dismissed any help as the rest would be ‘encumbrances’. Celine had been quietly furious about this, not liking this man’s vain attitude. At least they were going in smaller groups, so she didn’t have to deal with him.

Then another problem arose. Apparently Dias was from Arlia, just like Rena. Rena had been quite happy to see him, although Celine couldn’t imagine who would like that jerk. She had wanted to go with him on the rescue mission, maybe to convince him to travel with her and Claude to the Sorcery Globe. However, they had already planned to stick around for the wedding, since they were delayed anyhow. That would mean that Celine would have to put up with Dias after today and she didn’t like the sound of that. Claude didn’t seem too pleased with it either and there had been a bit of an argument.

Frowning, she considered that maybe she’d gone too far with that. She hadn’t been thinking entirely clearly after being insulted by Dias’ rudeness. She didn’t care if he was the best swordsman in the world. One couldn’t talk about others in that manner, especially when they were right there. After the argument, Rena had been upset by that and had run off to meet with Dias.

That wasn’t important right now. The children were. Personal issues aside, they had to do something about that.

She met up with Claude and Kevin. Her parents Eglas and Labe walked with them to the entrance of the forest. “We’ll take care of the security of the village,” Eglas told them. “You focus on trying to reach the northwestern cabin and rescuing the children.”

“We will,” Celine said.

“You can count on us,” Kevin added.

Claude didn’t say anything, just nodded.

They entered the Heraldry Forest. The light dimmed considerably, but strong shafts of light were starting to reach the ground. “Keep on the paths,” Celine told the other two. “And be cautious of anything you see. If it doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t right.”

“Someone’s been leaving trail markers,” Kevin pointed out, noting a pair of cairns at a four-way crossing.

“I wonder if Dias and Rena started earlier,” Celine said. She looked back to Claude, who still seemed distracted. “Does it bother you, the two of them?”

“Huh? Oh, some, I guess. She was the first one I met after…” he trailed off, rethinking telling that detail.

“I see.”

“Hold it right there!” A group of bandits in purple hooded jackets (which were immensely popular among bandits, for some reason) came from the northern path. “Do you have the ransom?”

“No,” Celine told him bluntly. “But you’ll be the ones to pay.”

“What? Stop wasting our time! Get them!”

Claude quickly had his sword, with Kevin brought out his spear and shield. As the latter of the pair was moving in to a position to guard her, Celine trace a star rune in the air. A burst of light shot up above her, then turned into stars which shot straight for all of the bandits in the crossing. Including one that had been in the bushes, ready to retreat. Claude spotted that one and quickly put an end to that by slashing the hiding bandit’s back. After another Starlight spell, the two fighters were able to finish off the rest of the group.

“Should we go the way they came?” Claude asked.

“That seems reasonable,” Kevin said.

“I’ll mark the way,” Celine offered, since the two guys were both wearing metal armor. She formed a cairn to indicate that they had gone this way. The group then continued into the forest.


	10. Bandits in the Forest

-Dias, Heraldry Forest

The light had grown strong enough to send bright shafts through the trees. Rena was using one to look at a cut Dias had. “Looks fine,” she said, then cast her healing spell to help it clear up faster.

“Thanks.” Then a crunch of leaves caught his ears. It sounded sloppy, but too light to be an adult walking up to them. Dias turned and saw a young girl coming up to them. From her size, she could have been five or six years old. He moved slower up to her, as it could be a fae.

But when they got close enough, she looked up at them. She had human eyes, frightened and worried, with some relief starting to show. “Mister, miss, will you help me?”

“Yes, of course,” Rena said. She knelt down and starting her healing spells; the girl had some cuts and scrapes on her legs. “What happened to you?”

“One of the Heraldry Masters said he’d take me and the boys in the woods, but then he made us walk out all this way and locked us in the cabin over there. I got out the window, but I hurt myself.” She sniffled.

Being the kindly person she was, Rena wiped the girl’s tears away. “It’s okay, we’ve come to bring you and the boys back home. I’m Rena, and this is Dias. What’s your name?”

“Cecile,” she said, still sniffling.

Cecile? That got to him for a second. But no… this girl was much younger; his sister would be the same age as Rena. And this Cecile had teal green hair, wearing a pink hooded cloak popular in Mars. His Cecile was dead.

“Would you show us where the cabin is, Cecile?” Dias asked. “We need to rescue the boys as well.”

She rubbed her nose. “O-okay. It’s back this way.” She turned back on the path, taking Rena’s hand.

Rena glanced back at him. From the look on her face, she was also surprised at the girl’s name. “She’s different, but we still have to help her,” he told her, barely using his voice. He didn’t want Cecile to hear that.

Nodding, Rena kept hold of the girl’s hand as they walked on. “Did you say one of the Heraldry masters brought you out here?” she asked.

“Uh-huh,” Cecile replied. “Mr. Vermillion did. He’s… well, he was a nice guy, but then he left on a trip. Then when he came back, he had this pretty glowing stone with him. He was acting a little funny too, but I didn’t think he’d become a meanie.”

“A glowing stone?” Rena seemed thoughtful, then worried. “Energy Stones like the one Alen had glow green.”

“Yeah, that was it. A pretty light green.”

Dias reviewed the past day in his mind. “There was one of the Heraldry Masters at the meeting who was wearing a green stone. I saw it at the start, but he must have shifted it under his cloak. He would be back at the village…” which meant that this whole kidnapping plot was a ruse for something else. They would have brought up the Book of Secret Seals to force the Mars villagers into action, in the wrong place.

“Dias?” Rena asked. She must have realized the same.

“Let’s make sure we have the children safe,” he said firmly.

Not long after that, they came across a log cabin. But on the porch, there was a golem. Made of clay, its rough skin was a sickly-looking blue and its face was devoid of emotions. It wore binding chains on his wrists and ankles. And even though it wasn’t hunched over by much, its arms were so long that the hands touched the ground.

It didn’t take long for Dias to step out in front of the girls. And it shrieked in fury when it saw Cecile, who shrieked back in fear. “You were not to leave, little girl,” the golem said in a monotone voice. “The Boss said you were to stay here.”

“You leave her be,” Dias said, putting a dangerous tone to his voice. “I’m challenging you now. You will fall, follower of Zand.”

The golem snorted. “Zand? Phhfft, we ditched him last month. The new Boss is stronger; Vermillion will blast you into ash. That is, if you survive me.” It leapt off the porch, ready to fight.

But Dias was ready. Channeling the power of chaos into his blade, he drew it out of its sheath and slashed at the air in such a way that the golem collided with the katana when both were at full momentum. That managed to take off the golem’s right arm and put a good deep slice across its chest. Being a clay thing, the golem did not bleed and was not defeated. Dias was able to reverse the blow and take off its other arm as he went to replace his sword in its sheath. Thus, a step back was all he needed to keep out of range of any attacks from it.

Cecile screamed behind him.

…

Dias and his father were getting the better of the two bandits who had decided to interrupt their family picnic when Cecile screamed behind them.

Scared for her, the sixteen-year-old stepped back and turned to see that another three bandits had come in, including one who wore a dark green cloak edged with yellow. But that moment of distraction was all the bandit he was fighting needed to slash him in the side, then kick him onto the ground so hard that he found himself unable to get back up again. He heard his father call his name, but that distraction was enough to get him killed.

And it just got worse from there.

…

Dias cursed under his breath for allowing himself to get distracted by a flashback at that moment. Since the golem’s arms were missing, he had an easier time telling where its control stone was. He slashed his sword out again, putting another slice across its chest, then pierced through just below its neck. As he felt the control stone break, he pulled his sword back out, stepped aside just in case, then checked on Rena and Cecile.

Fortunately, Rena had cast a light-based spell to dazzle the three thieves who had tried to jump her and the little girl. One had even been knocked unconscious. She followed up by dropping a magic anvil on top of another, defeating him. Running over there, Dias cut down the third before it could attack any of them.

“Is everyone okay?” Rena asked, although the question seemed most directed at Cecile.

“That was scary,” the girl said, hanging close to Rena. But then she smiled at them shyly. “But you both are so strong.”

Ignoring that for now, Dias turned back to the golem. If this monster had been left to guard the children and it had once belonged to Zand… yes, the key to the cabin was attached to one of his control bands. Zand himself, the bandit of the crimson cloak, may have been a bastard genius, but his followers generally weren’t too bright. All the while, Dias kept observing the forest around them. It didn’t seem like any more bandits or monsters were here for now. Were they back at the village? And what about the parents of these children? Were they in trouble, or worse, dead?

For their sake, Dias hoped not. He took the key and went over to unlock the cabin. He knocked before opening the door. “Who’s in there?” He kept his hand on his katana’s handle.

There was nothing to be concerned about, though. The one-room cabin didn’t even have a fire going. Although there had been this guard and locked door, there looked to be no other security. The two boys, too big to fit through the one opened window, were not tied up, nor enchanted. No one had been left in the room with them. To their credit, the boys had picked up a pair of fire pokers in their own defense. “Are you with the bandits?” one called out. He was trying to be brave, but the poker shivered in his hands.

“No, they killed the bandits!” Cecile called out cheerily.

“Whoa, really?” The boys came out and saw the dead golem and bandits. “Awesome!”

Now for the difficult part of this mission, Dias thought. He had been taught how to use a sword by his father. However, the style they used had weaknesses, like any other. His father had been firm that he know and recognize those weaknesses. One was that if he didn’t cut down his foe in one blow, he would leave himself more open than others to counterattacks. Another more troublesome one that he had a hard time defending others, especially if attacked by a group. Dias could protect himself in these woods. But Rena and three small children too? It was going to be a challenge.

“We must be quiet,” Dias told the children. “There is still danger in these woods. We need to get back to Mars quickly.”

“What about…?” Rena started.

“Let’s just get there first,” Dias stated. If the village was being attacked, they could keep to the woods until there was an opening.

He hoped there wouldn’t be a problem, though. This forest was beginning to remind him a little too much of Shingo Forest. Because of that, Dias wanted to leave as soon as he could.

* * *

 

-Celine, Heraldry Forest

It had been a rough morning. Celine, Claude, and Kevin had been making good progress in getting northeast, but they kept being attacked by groups of bandits. None of them were tough, but the number of battles was wearing them down. However, they moved on, even Kevin in his full suit of armor. Of course, he was used to this kind of ordeal in being a castle knight.

“Seems like these bandits are in Zand’s gang,” Kevin noted after one battle. “They’ve got the right gear and outfits for it. He’s getting quite bold to come into this place.”

“I think I see a cabin ahead,” Claude said, peering through the trees. “Some kind of structure.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Celine said, but then footsteps behind their group caught their attention.

A green-cloaked Heraldry Master came up the path. “Oh, there you are,” he said. “How’re you holding up, Celine?”

“Just fine,” she brushed off, ignoring a few patched cuts and bruises she had gotten today. “How’s your search coming along, Vermillion?”

“Fine as well.”

“So did you find the children?” she asked. She’d known this wizard for a good many years; he was a friend of her father’s.

“No one’s found them yet, but don’t worry. They’ll be perfectly fine.”

Kevin and Claude exchanged looks. It seemed they didn’t trust him. Celine herself was worried. Although she wasn’t sure, something didn’t seem right about him. “We still have to find them before the bandits get impatient and decide to harm them.”

“They’re in no danger of that,” he repeated. Then a disturbing look came to his eyes. “The one who got hurt was your father.”

“My father?!” Celine cried out. But her father was one of the more powerful wizards in Mars! He was certain to become an elder soon, even though he was still young for that. Although she had disagreed with her parents many times before, she didn’t want to wish either of them harm.

Clutching a strange green stone, Vermillon smiled. “I never knew why Eglas was the one who was always recognized. I was always better than him. But he got everything: Labe, the praise of the elders, prestige, money, everything. I did get something he didn’t have on my trip into Eluria, though. I met a great wizard named Vesper who gave me the secrets of his power. And thus I will take over this foolish village.” He unhooked the clasp of his cloak, then tossed it aside.

The three there tried their best not to, but cringed on seeing Vermillion’s new form. His face looked fairly normal, but otherwise… his skin was all bright red, rough as if covered by layers of scars. On his hands, his nails had grown into claws. His body was an unsettling mixture of bulky muscles and starved thinness. And his hair was white and wild, as if he had shot himself one too many times with a Thunderbolt spell.

Vermillion gave a bestial grin. “And now I must get rid of the last part of Eglas’ legacy… you!”

“Not a chance!” Claude said as he moved in to attack.

Kevin moved to the side to stand guard in front of Celine. He brought up a shield power to keep them safe. “By my duty, and my respect for her, I will not allow you to harm Celine,” he stated.

On normal terms, Celine would have been asking the two to stand down so she could have a proper duel with Vermillion. However, now that he wasn’t human, she appreciated the help. She remembered that he was a grass and earth based wizard and prepared Energy Arrow to strike him.

Vermillion managed to block Claude’s sword with his fist. Claude tried to break out of that hold, but had to back off as the former human lashed out with his other arm. Trying out a skill Kevin had taught him, he attempted to strike with star-based energy once Celine’s spell struck. He didn’t seem too thrilled with the result and went back to standard strikes and slashes.

Although he’d started the fight saying he would take down Celine, a wild spirit seemed to take over Vermillion’s mind. He got furious at Claude’s attacks and began trying to strike back. This man knew how to make the very ground tremble; why in the world was he not using that against him? Vermillion was sticking mostly to physical strikes and spells, like making sure he could fight fist to sword on equal terms. Maybe he’d spent his magic fighting Eglas and the others of Mars. Or maybe he had a nasty trick waiting for them.

“Kevin!” Claude called, blocking Vermillion’s fist. “How accurately can you throw that spear?”

“The knights have very high standards for that,” he replied.

“Good, then I want you to hit this stone…” he sidestepped and thrust his sword upward to catch the chain holding the glowing Energy Stone. It slipped and fell to the ground. “Now!”

Having already brought up his weapon, Kevin lunged forward to add extra strength to his throw. It wasn’t that far away, so when the spear struck the stone, it shattered instantly. Strangely enough, it almost seemed to pop as the glow ceased.

“NOOO!” Vermillion called, dropping to the ground. “I connected my heart to…” he stopped and collapsed, dead.

“Oh drat,” Claude said, stepping back to catch his breath. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to kill him.”

“If he connected his heart to that Energy Stone, then he was as good as dead already,” Celine said, coming over when Kevin dropped his shield. “It turns people into demons if they’re not careful.”

“Still…” he winced and looked own at his arm. A bruise was starting to show from where Vermillion had punched him. It was strangely larger than a normal fistfight bruise.

“Claude!” Rena’s voice came from down the path. “Celine, Kevin, there you are.” She appeared with Dias and three small children. On seeing Claude’s bruise, she came right over and healed him. “What happened?”

“That’s the true form of Vermillion,” Kevin said, pointing to the fallen corpse. “One of the Heraldry Masters that was at the meeting yesterday.”

“Oh gross,” one of the boys said, in an impressed voice. “I didn’t know magic could do that to you.”

“Only bad magic, darling,” Celine said, but her eyes were drawn back to Mars somewhere behind the trees. “If you have the children, we need to get back quickly. My father…”

“He didn’t say Eglas was killed,” Claude said, still holding onto his arm. “He could be all right after being healed.”

Bending down, Dias picked up the master’s cloak. “Let’s get going, then. When the cowards see this, they should stand down. So you three defeated their boss.”

“Right,” Kevin said. “Claude did much of the fighting, though.”

“You both helped immensely.”

The blue-haired swordsman nodded. “I suppose what Rena said was true then. You’re not as much trouble as you seem. Come on.”

“Is the village gonna be okay?” the little girl asked.

“We’ll see.”

* * *

 

-Dias, Heraldry Forest.

Still, they had a long trek back to Mars, this time with a larger group. Dias noted sounds that indicated bandits watching them. But they weren’t attacking. He kept the green cloak visible, as a sign for them to stay away.

Rena’s attention was pretty much on Claude right now, as they tied up a sling for his right arm while walking. “It’s not quite broken, but it’s going to be frail for a couple of days. You should take it easy until it strengthens back up, or it will break.”

“All right then.”

She then went off to attend to the others. Celine was walking ahead of everyone. With a good reason, she was somewhat distracted. Her father had been attacked back in Mars, or so Vermillion had claimed. Dias figured that was just another reason to keep alert. One good thing would come out of it; if any bandits did decide to make trouble, they’d have to face down one angry sorceress. From experience, he knew that provoking magic users in a battle situation was generally a stupid idea. Fighters would get sloppy, but magicians? Their spells would be fueled by their anger.

“Dias?” Little Cecile came up to him and tried to take his hand. “Can I tell you something?”

Part of him was annoyed by this. But then… he let her take his hand. “Sure, what is it?”

“I’m gonna be a great fortune teller someday. And you know what my fortune telling powers tell me now?” She giggled, but didn’t wait for a response. “They say that you like my name.”

That. He didn’t want to smile, but gave her a small one anyway. “It could be true. I had a little sister with the same name.”

“That’s neat. So what’s she like?”

Rena glanced at him; that partly kept him from just shutting up about the issue. “She liked to play in the woods and help our mom bake things.”

“Yeah, and you liked to tease us about everything,” Rena said with a grin.

“I was big brother to both of you, what do you expect?” Dias countered.

“Can I meet her?” Cecile asked.

“She died a few years ago,” Dias said.

“Oh, sorry.” She thought about it. “Well can I call you big brother instead?”

That’s why you don’t go hanging around people too much, he scolded himself. They get attached to you and you get attached to them. It still didn’t stop him from saying, “If you want.”

The teal-haired girl grinned. “Good! I never had a big brother before, just these two boys.” She then decided to give him a hug about the waist.

“I can’t stay long,” he told her, but that didn’t seem to faze Cecile at all.

Back at the village, the battle seemed to be over. The villagers were assessing damage and trying to help those who were injured. Since she had a rare healing ability, Rena was soon in the thick of it, asking to see Eglas. Celine followed her. Claude and Kevin helped out in making sure all the enemies were taken care of and that the village’s security was good. As for himself, Dias made certain that he saw the children to their parents.

Fortunately, those six adults didn’t seem to be hurt. They had been waiting by the entrance to the forest and their children quickly ran over. The families thanked the five of them and offered to use the ransom money as a reward. Dias turned it down and headed back to his room at the inn. On getting his things back and turning in the key, he was ready to leave.

Don’t get attached to them, he thought. Death and violence could take anyone away without warning. And he didn’t want to risk his heart to that. Dias left Mars for Herlie.

* * *

 

-C.J., 4D

C.J. was making sure that her Eternal Sphere profiles were up-to-date and organized. She wanted proof that she was interested in this in order to lift the restrictions before Celine’s wedding. Unfortunately, there was precious little time for that. Celine had to go to Salva still, to buy the wedding rings. Once she got back to Cross, it would be a busy week or so for her until the wedding. On her end, C.J. would be busy arguing with the medical network.

As for Opera, it seemed that she had made it out of Shingo Forest and into Arlia. She had gotten some injuries, so she was staying the night at the house of Westa Lanford. C.J. made a quick note to make certain to review any conversations there when she checked back in to that account. After Arlia, Opera planned on heading north to Salva, then elsewhere to look for Ernest.

So, her characters were going to be in the same general area tomorrow. And they were supposed to be on different planets too. An odd incident. Well at least she could fully watch Celine’s wedding, if she could convince Opera to hang around.

She checked into conversations and happened upon Dias’ player. She looked into that conversation.

 

Dano: I recognized your username, of course.

(C.J. has entered the chat room)

Cece: hehe. I’m glad to see Dano again!

Cece: Oh hi C.J.!

C.J.: Hi. I was playing as Celine in Heraldry Forest today.

Cece: Ah cool! I was playing Cecile, and Dano was Dias.

Dano: C.J., is it? I hear you’re a great player despite your prestige rankings.

C.J.: Thanks darling, but I don’t really pay all that much attention to that anymore. I just have fun.

Cece: hehe, me too!

C.J.: You’ve been really great yourself, Dano. I’ve read some of your help topics and they’re nicely done.

Dano: I just don’t like idiots running about in the game, that’s all.

Dano: So what was the deal with reusing the name Cecile, Cece?

Cece: oh, that’s one of my stock names for a cute little girl.

Cece: I always play little kids. It’s so much fun! So is Dias gonna hang around Cecile again? Teehee.

Dano: I’m afraid not. Dias changed and I can’t influence him that much when immersed.

Cece: Awwww. Cecile will be disappointed.

Dano: Well you’re still one of the best players for a kid character, I’ll give you that.

Cece: Thanks. Oh, gotta go, bye!

(Cece left the chat room)

C.J.: Hey, I’m sorry if Celine was rude to you. I had her on auto during the discussion on the kidnapping.

Dano: Eh, Dias has encountered worse. And he’s a bit worse too.

C.J.: I see.

Dano: You’re one of the older players, right? Do you ever use the amnesia option when bad things happen in the Eternal Sphere?

C.J.: No I don’t. I think it’s much worse to deal with the problem if you choose amnesia. The ES character doesn’t have a choice in forgetting the bad incident, so you actually wind up yo-yo-ing between the peaceful 4D and the mourning ES.

Dano: What about a character death? Do you use amnesia then?

C.J.: No. I had one friend who did and she kept trying to log back into that profile.

C.J.: Plus, I think it makes you a better person if you don’t forget.

Dano: A better person?

C.J.: Right. There’s no suffering in 4D and everyone says that it’s perfect that way. But look at how the ES characters grow and mature. They often have to suffer to become better. Since there’s no suffering in 4D, there’s only what you suffer in ES. So to be a better person, you have to remember it.

Dano: That sounds about right.

Dano: Cece chose to forget about when her character Cecile died, and I have a hard time speaking to her because I didn’t forget Dias’ memory of that.

Dano: When Cecile was Dias’ sister, I mean.

C.J.: I see.

C.J.: I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but she did seem immature.

Dano: You have no idea. Would you mind if I friend you?

C.J.: Nah, that’s fine. Even if Celine won’t run into Dias again. Which she won’t, at least not under my control.

(Dano has sent a friend request. Accept?)

Dano: Something wrong?

(C.J. has accepted Dano’s friend request)

C.J.: I’ve got this Sphere restriction that keeps me from making new profiles or changing my current ones too much. And Celine’s getting married shortly. (kinda upset, kinda annoyed)

Dano: Ouch, that’s harsh.

C.J.: Yeah, so if I can leave my characters on auto, I do that while trying to get those restrictions lifted.

(Jeb has entered the chat room)

Jeb: Hey C.J., how’d you get a restriction on you? You’re the most rule-abiding player I know of.

C.J.: Hey Jeb! Well it’s really strange. I dropped my solar sailing hobby because of disinterest and I got bored trying to find a new hobby. Then a doctor comes in on me and drops this change restriction on my ES account apparently for no reason but my boredom (mad now)

Dano: They shouldn’t be able to do that.

C.J.: I know! But I hear a lot of the older people of 4D are getting this kind of hassle too. All well. I’m trying not to rant too much and give them reasons to not lift those restrictions. I’ve got a new hobby now, so hopefully I can get something worked out before the wedding event.

Dano: I might look into that. Well good meeting you.

C.J.: You too Dano.

(Dano has left the chat room)

Jeb: So the older folks are getting nudges to restart, huh? (a bit worried)

C.J.: Oh, you should be fine for a good while. I’ve had my grandkids grow up, while you’ve still got a dependent daughter. So how is Penny?

Jeb: Doing nicely in schools. She’s got a knack for mechanics, so we’re hoping she gets a permanent job in that. Hoping. She’s sixteen now, so there’s not much time for that left.

C.J.: I hope she’s lucky too. A job would be nice, but I’ve got some time before that option comes up for me again. If it ever does.

Jeb: Right, I know how that is. Still, I’ve been considering this new option. Have you heard of the robotic children?

C.J.: No, can’t say that I have.

Jeb: Well every family is limited on how many children they can have. Me and Nancy are on a waiting list for a second. But Central Electronica can get you a robotic child faster.

C.J.: I’m not sure about that. Isn’t it illegal to build a sentient robot?

Jeb: Yes, so they’re not. So it makes us wary of getting one. Maybe a robotic pet, but not a child.

C.J.: I’m sure Penny would love a robotic pet.

Jeb: (laughs) True. That’s probably the better option.

C.J.: Especially if you let her build it. Who knows? That could put her into the attention of the mechanics guild.

Jeb: (thoughtful) You’re right there.

(Ashe enters the chat room)

C.J.: Electronica should have some good kits for that. I was considering that as a hobby a while back.

C.J.: Hi Ashe!

Ashe: Hi C.J.! Hi Jeb. I didn’t know you two knew each other.

Jeb: We go back a ways. Isn’t that right?

C.J.: Yeah… oh, and Opera’s on Expel now.

Jeb: Oh dear, Ernest is in trouble, isn’t he? (joking)

C.J.: Oh yes he is. (teasing)

Jeb: Actually, I was considering dropping Ernest to an NPC status. You know, since my wife is playing Bowman’s wife, while Opera and Ernest were starting to really show some chemistry last time we were together.

C.J.: I see. Well would you mind hanging on to him for just a bit longer? I need to keep Opera’s profile from switching and thus locking me entirely out of ES.

Jeb: How’s that work?

C.J.: No one’s certain, but it’s been noticed that among older players, when you get a restriction, your game luck seems to go absurdly high. Like Celine, she wasn’t engaged or even close to it before I got the restriction placed. Now she’s going to be married in a matter of days.

Jeb: Hmm…

Ashe: Why’d you get a restriction placed on you?

C.J.: Because I’m too old, apparently. It’s unfair… here’s a topic where it’s being discussed (link to topic)

Ashe: That just seems mean (goes to read topic)

C.J.: Opera’s major potential change would be getting into a relationship with Ernest. But since it must be mutual consent between both players if the participants are PCs, you owning Ernest would stall that shift until I could get the restriction lifted. On the other hand, if you drop him to be an NPC, that luck factor might end up shifting the relationship before I can do anything reasonable about it.

Jeb: I see.

C.J.: I’ll talk to Nancy if it helps.

Jeb: Yeah, you might want to do that. But you’re friends, so she should be okay with that explanation.

Ashe: That’s got to be awkward, I mean, if your two characters are in a relationship, but then Jeb is married and C.J. is a widow…

C.J.: Sometimes, but I make sure to be nice to her. Other people don’t really care about that kind of thing, saying that it’s in a virtual world, so it doesn’t count. But you feel their emotions too, so it does count on some level.

Jeb: I had to drop one character because someone was being too pushy about that.

C.J.: Then again, dating sims are fun. (laughs at her own hypocrisy)

Ashe: Hah, I’ll agree there.

Jeb: So long as you’re sure the other one is an NPC.

(Penny enters the chat room)

Penny: Hey Dad!

Jeb: What’s up, cupcake?

Penny: I just got a bunch of options unlocked, including a dating option. May I activate that?

Jeb: Sure. But I want to know all the players she has contact with.

Penny: Including you? (teases) Haha, okay dad. (rolls eyes)

C.J.: Oh boy. Jeb, you’ve just entered a world full of headaches. (laughs)

Jeb: I’ve been in one. Teenaged daughters…

Penny: Hey!

Jeb: You’ll want to be nice to C.J. She just talked me into letting you get a robotic pet building kit.

Penny: Really?! Sweet! Thank you thank you thank you! (squees and hugs C.J.)

C.J.: You’re welcome, darling.

(Penny has sent a friend request. Accept?)

Ashe: Actually, a robotic pet does sound nice. My house has seemed quiet lately.

(C.J. has accepted Penny’s friend request.)

Jeb: We still have to convince your mom, so be a good girl.

Penny: Of course!


	11. Deal with the Devil Phoenix

-Leon, Lacour Castle laboratory

Leon was examining a piece of steel from one of the local smiths. It was strong, but heavy. Would it withstand the energy of his vacuum weapon? “Would you make it into a circular pipe with one safety valve?” he asked. “I’ve got a draft print here.” He handed the paper over.

“What’s a kid like you want a pipe like this for?” the smith asked. “I’m busy with tournament preparations.”

“We lead the castle scientific research laboratory,” Leon’s mother said. “This is needed for work into Lacour’s war defense plans.”

“That doesn’t look like any weapon I know of,” the smith muttered.

“That’s because it isn’t,” Leon said, annoyed at the delay.

“I’ll work on it, since it’s from the castle. I’ll get it to you in two days.”

“Okay,” Florence said.

After they left the smithy, Leon frowned. “Two days? I’d like to have that information sooner.”

“You need to be patient with them.” She patted his shoulder. “Not everyone does things at your speed.”

They’re not as good as me, he thought. There were other things to work on his design so he could pass two days worth of wait. Provided that smith kept the deadline. There was the targeting system. Right now, the release was always in a wild scattering of energy. But that would hurt anyone near the weapon, even the weapon operator. If he could find a way to shoot the energy bundle in a line for a certain distance… could he decide on an aiming range before the energy split apart? He certainly could, once he knew how it would behave in use.

“Do you want to take a walk around town?” his mother asked.

“Not really,” he said. Along with targeting, there was also the operator’s panel to think of. So far, they had used three or more wizards to start the vacuum points, but they could set those basic spells up with just one. But to sort out the spells to arrive at the right points to form the most efficient use of energy… he’d need to check references. It had been done before with a high degree of accuracy.

“Do you want some ice cream? We can stop by one of the restaurants on our way back. There’s no hurry.”

“Not right now,” he replied. Some spellcasters used a staff to send their spells longer distances. They said that focusing the energy along the weapon encouraged the spell to continue to move in a straight line to the target. This allowed little energy loss with greater distance. Could that work with this weapon? He himself used books to cast, but the staff users did have a good idea.

“Are you really paying attention?” Florence asked.

He blinked, then looked up at her. “Of course I am, Momma. It’s just that I’ve got other things to do right now.”

“But you’ve been so busy the past few days. You need to give even your mind a rest every now and then.”

Although it annoyed him some, he put up with it because it was her and she was having a good day. “I’m trying to get this plan going, but there’s a lot of parts to figure out. I’ve got the idea all in my head; it’s just taking time to get all the parts of it down and out somewhere.”

“I understand that, sweetie, but I worry about you. You spend so much time in the lab. Sometimes I think your father pushes you too much; you ought to go out and make friends your own age.”

“I’m fine, Momma. I want to be doing this.”

“All right, if you feel that way.”

Sometimes, he did think about being a normal kid. He even daydreamed about going out to play every now and then. But what were those kids doing? Just pretending to be heroes and adults. He had adults counting on him. He was going to build a weapon that would save Lacour from the Elurian demons, which would make him a real hero to everyone. In the end, Leon always decided that pretending was a waste of time. He was actually going to do things.

Even if it wasn’t always fun.

* * *

 

-Ashe, 4D

Sitting in his dining room, Ashe scrolled through a pet adoption site. Maybe it was a good idea. He had been used to his family, including his noisy younger sister. And then there were the college dorms, which managed to be even noisier and busier. Now that he had his own place, all to himself, it was just a bit too quiet.

But considering a pet brought up a lot of decisions. Did he want a real pet or a robotic one? Real pets were more work and some might chew on his models. Robotic pets were almost realistic, but were they realistic enough? He wasn’t sure. The only pets he had had as a kid were fish. While they were pretty, they weren’t all that interesting. Once he’d decided on that, what kind of animal did he want? Maybe not fish, but a cat, dog, lizard, dragon, what? He would also need to doublecheck his housing district’s rules on such things. No point in getting a dragon if it was against the housing rules.

He dropped that search for now and went back to his game room. There, he found a message from Bonita asking him to another party. He declined that; he was too busy with Eternal Sphere events right now. Ashton had a dragon slaying quest to complete.

On thinking of it, Ashe was a bit worried. Nothing particularly bad had happened after Ashton had fallen off XINE’s nesting area. He hadn’t aggravated the snakes in the berry patch and his hotel room only had moderate annoyances. Was something bad about to happen? Or was the challenge making him paranoid? One never knew when luck decided to be a major factor in the Sphere.

At any rate, Ashton seemed upbeat. It was a definite improvement after the mess in Eluria. Ashe decided to just accept the lull period and carry on.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Salva Drift entrance

The sun was high in the sky, showing a lovely blue sky without a hint of clouds. Salva was always a busy little town, but today there was anxiety and fear in the villagers. Given that there was a live dragon in the mine, none of the men were working. But there were even more than usual, as the town now held adventurers like himself who came to slay the dragon.

Looking around, Ashton could see that many had already been defeated. They were gathered to try finding a way to defeat it. He’d listened to their stories over the morning, hoping to learn new tips, like how this dragon behaved. As none had succeeded, he had a chance.

Now as he looked into the tunnels of Salva Drift, he felt confident that he could do something. The other fighting men had gone for just brute strength, but Ashton had the advantage of heraldry. He clutched at the small silver cross that he had brought out for this mission. While this would be difficult, he would face down this dragon. He was a knight of Eluria; he could do this.

A local man was serving as a guard to the mine entrance. “Are you here to slay the dragon?”

“Yes I am,” he replied.

“There’s many that have been defeated before you. Are you sure?”

He nodded. “It’s fine. I can handle this.”

“All right. The miners have made red cross-outs on signs leading to the dragon’s area. There’s an active vein of Energy Stone in the area, so be careful not to touch it.”

“Thank you.” He headed into the mine. He would take care of XINE’s price, Eleanor would be fine, and everything would turn out right for once. Ashton made a mental note to give thanks to the gods after this was over.

* * *

 

-Celine, town of Salva

“You know, I’ve never had one shopping trip turn out to be so eventful,” Celine said as they walked away from the stable holding onto the wagon and royal horses.

“It has been quite adventurous,” Kevin said. “Still, we’d better not waste time here.”

“Right. What’re you two going to do?”

“I’m going to check in on a friend,” Rena said. She looked to Claude. “Want to come to Alen’s house with me?”

“Sure,” he replied.

Although Salva was known for mining many gemstones, there was basically only one shop to buy jewelry at. But they always had local stones, never from any other mine. If they were alchemy stones, they were always local craftsmen, at furthest made in Mars. So it was more appropriate for a royal wedding ring. That still amazed her; she would be the bride in a royal wedding.

Celine went into the store, but there seemed to be no one at the counter. A small gargoyle watched from atop the register, making sure no thieves tried to make off with the jewelry. The whole time, it kept its jewel eyes on them.

“That set is magnificent,” Celine said, pointing out a pair. “Whoever crafted those rainbow diamonds did a masterful job. And that gold band is high quality too.”

“The Prince trusted you with this decision,” Kevin said. “They are nice.”

“I think he’d like them. But where’s the shopkeeper?” She looked into the doorway in back.

The gargoyle stretched its wings, but did not speak. It probably couldn’t. So, there was none to answer until one of the doors to the shop opened. A man in a fez popular with merchants came in. “Oh, good afternoon. I run the weapons counter; is there anything I can help you with?”

“We’re looking for the jewelry clerk,” Celine said.

“She’s not back yet? Ah great…” he looked down in a mix of anger and worry. “I told her… she went into the mine this morning to hunt out some stones, but there’s a good reason the mine is closed. There’s a dragon hanging about the tunnels.”

“A dragon?”

“She said she wouldn’t go near the dragon’s nest, but still. It was reckless.”

Celine thought. “We could go look for her. We’d just have to be careful not to disturb this dragon.”

“Are you sure about that?” Kevin asked.

“I’m sure. Dragons emit a specific magic signal, so I’ll know where it is if we get too close.”

“It’s a demon dragon, though,” the weapons clerk pointed out.

She smiled. “Well that makes it even easier. It’ll be as hard to miss as a lighthouse beacon. Sir, do you know if she carries any specific jewels, so that I might be able to track her that way?”

“She usually wears a sapphire necklace, but not always.”

“It’s a hint. Thank you.” She looked to Kevin. “Do you have a problem with this?”

He shook his head. “No, I am simply concerned about returning you to Cross Castle unharmed. If we avoid the dragon, it’s fine. Let’s go check out the mine.”

As the major mine entrance was just north of town, they walked through the streets of Salva again to reach the Drift. They encountered Claude and Rena on the way. “I thought you were going to visit a friend,” Celine said.

“Well he wasn’t at home,” Rena said in a worried voice. “The butler said he might have gone into the mines, which is not good for him.”

“Because of the dragon? The jewelry store clerk went in there too, so we can’t do anything until we find her.”

“It’s been mostly the fighting men who’ve encountered the dragon going in,” Claude said. “One of the other servants was talking about that. They must have figured that they could avoid the dragon.”

Since they were searching for people, the group decided to split into pairs. Claude and Rena went down one of the marked passages while Celine and Kevin went down another. Eventually they came upon unmarked passages as well. Due to the coal dust, there were mostly fresh tracks down some tunnels. They could avoid any that didn’t seem to be recently traveled.

Then they heard voices. “Alen, you don’t have to do this.”

“It won’t leave my mind! I’m just going to fall prey to something else. I’m no good.”

“You’re still recovering. You’re not that bad.”

“It would all be better if I was gone!”

When they came around the corner, there was a green haired woman in a dark green dress talking to a young man in a violet cloak. It was a dead end. Alen had his hand on the wall; he seemed to be disoriented and crying, his clothes and skin covered in coal dust. The woman, who was dressed more sensibly with gloves, tall boots, and even a miner’s hat, tried to take his hand, but he swatted her away. When they came closer, the woman turned to them. “What are you doing here?”

“We came looking for you both,” Celine said. Even if their primary goal was getting the clerk back to the store, it was obviously a bad idea to ignore this Alen.

“See? I told you that others are worried. Come on, let’s go back into town.”

“I don’t know if I can overcome this,” Alen said, refusing to look at them.

“I’m sorry for his behavior,” she said softly. “But he’s recovering from an illness.”

“Why don’t you just say a madness?” he interrupted sharply.

“From an unprocessed Energy Stone,” she finished.

“I see,” Celine said. “Well you need to come out of the mine then. It’s more dangerous for you here.”

“Are people really looking for me?” Alen asked after a moment of hesitation.

“Yes.” At least Rena and Claude were. Probably the servants of his house too.

“Don’t know why they’d care,” he muttered. But he gave up and let them take him out of Salva Drift.

* * *

 

-Ashton, deep Salva Drift

The tunnels were lit by crystal lamps, which cast out bright light without posing a fire hazard. Dust from mining still hung in the air, giving it an earthy coal scent. Although Ashton tried to go quietly, the small rocks scattered in the path crunched under his feet. He could hear other sounds ahead, like two monsters breathing, claw scrapes, and rustles of rocks. He was close, that was certain.

He came around a turn and there it was. Its violet body was a slithering mass, like an impossibly thick snake that was making a loose knot of its own body. As it seemed to have no legs or arms, it took up the entire tunnel with its snake-like mass. About seven feet from the heads, the body split into two necks. One changed over to bright red scales while the other changed to pale lavender. The two massive heads looked much alike, save for the frills. On the red one, the neck frills were curving and swaying, like a growing flame. On the lavender one, the neck frills were sharp and straight, like icicles.

Noticing a new challenger, the dragon heads snorted and rose up to the nine-foot roof. They roared in unison, creating such a racket that Ashton felt it in his bones. Pushing aside any intimidation this caused in his heart, the young swordsman brought out his twin blades. He brought one in defensively, but held the other one out as a challenge reply. “Dragon! I have come here on the word of XINE and I will be the one to defeat you! You shall pay for making the people of this village suffer.”

The two heads both reacted on hearing XINE’s name, drawing back quickly as if startled. Then all four eyes narrowed and it hissed with hatred. Somehow, this mine-dwelling dragon knew of the mountain phoenix and did not like him at all. The red head lunged forward and blasted a stream of fire at Ashton, putting the battle into motion.

Sidestepping the fire stream, Ashton ran at the dragon, bringing up a special heraldry move. If he could pull this off, it would knock the dragon’s endurance down quickly. He brought both blades up, then swung them across the dragon’s skin, pulled one back, slashed across with the other, then whirled around to hit with the second, then the first again…

_The Sword Dance is a sign of an honorable Elurian knight and is never taught to those disloyal to the king._

Dang it. He always got hung up at that part. At any rate, the aborted attempt had left deep wounds on the dragon, near its neck split. The lavender ice head attempted to bite him, but he blocked with his left blade and stabbed the red fire head in the neck. Ashton then backed off to plan his next move.

In this part of the mine, there was enough space for two miners to work in the same area. With the dragon, there was hardly any room to maneuver. He couldn’t side step around the writhing mass to get at it from behind. He would have to deal with the heads at the front. When the fire head came back down to breath a stream of fire, Ashton twin stabbed it right there, giving it a bleeding wound on the snout. That head jerked back with a yelp. Then the ice head froze its own jaw and came in to attack. This time, it managed to bite Ashton’s right hand. His nerves all went numb after sending a shriek of pain to his mind.

Grimacing but not crying out, he attempted to take out its eyes with his left blade. It didn’t quite work, but a cut imbued with lightning gave it a badly bleeding wound on its jaw. When it released him, he had spatters of dragon blood on him. That could be dealt with later.

He knew for certain that he could deal with the ice head easily, so he moved to the left and worked on defeating the fire head. Crossing his blades over his body, he hit it with Lightning Strike which came out to be as messy as the last strike. But while he was finishing off that move, the fire head managed to bite his left hand. It didn’t hold on like the other, but that wound seemed to burn. This wasn’t a low intelligence dragon that dealt only in brute strength.

The two heads cried out in union as a gathering of magic came to them. They were going to combine their powers for a single strike now. Shoot. Moving quickly, Ashton got to the dragon’s body as its heads moved down. A blast of both fire and ice shot down the tunnels. Nothing combusted, but the air was left decidedly smoky when the power cleared. While he was there, Ashton attempted to attack the main body. The scales were harder here, though, deflecting his blades with bright sparks. Then it seemed that he had to cut off both heads in order to defeat this dragon.

Moving back and to the left to draw single attacks, Ashton got in another Lightning Strike against the fire head. It roared, but was starting to sound winded. Good. Then the ice head tried a bite again, this time at Ashton’s head. He moved aside before getting decapitated, but the dragon managed to catch hold of the cord holding onto his protective cross and snap it. The silver charm dropped onto the floor.

The fight was back to being against him now. Without that holy protection, it could now use its more demonic attacks against him. Those would be more deadly than the straight fire and ice skills it had been using so far. Time was of the essence. He used Lightning Strike against the fire head; as he was having trouble pulling off Mirror Slice, it was his strongest skill that wasn’t a grass move. The grass strikes would do little against a fire enemy. Once the fire head was exhausted, he could take down the ice head, then cut both necks to finish off the dragon.

Ashton went in for a simple strike against the fire head. For a moment, he thought he heard a voice behind him shouting. He couldn’t quite tell, not with his focus on the dragon. Both heads then went in for a simple double bash move, which he narrowly dodged. He went in to strike again and the voice came back. Clearer this time. And then another. “You need to lower your stance.”

Huh? Ashton managed to block another bash move from the heads, then glanced back. There were two people back there. Great. He wouldn’t mind the help, actually, but it might tick off XINE. Not to mention the lack of space here. “Would you keep quiet back there?” he called. “It’s too dangerous around…”

“Look out!”

He braced himself for another bash; they hadn’t cried out a union attack again. But when he looked back to the dragon, there was a bright flash of silver light. It overtook his vision. What now? He kept in a defensive position.

Without warning, the heraldic tattoos on his body began glowing. They lifted off his skin somehow, shining green and yellow against the silver brightness. A heraldic crest appeared beyond that, a giant circle diagram with a large bird surrounded by symbols of fire, life, and demons. Past that, two more crests appeared. Both were dragon crests, one of fire and one of ice.

There was a massive exchange of power that sapped all of Ashton’s energy. For a moment, he felt like he was going to faint. Then his crests shattered completely. The dragon crests passed through the bird crest, then fused themselves to replace Ashton’s tattoos. In a weird way, that reenergized him but with a different power.

XINE’s voice broke through to him. “By the blood that ye three have mixed, thy powers shall combine and become one. No longer separate, you shall be one. Ashton, knight of Eluria, this is the price you will pay for Eleanor’s life. You will take care of these two from now until the time when the girl would have perished no matter how much she struggled. That will be one year.”

_What the **** is this about XINE? What’s on your ****** **** **** bastard **** mind? If you weren’t such a ******* coward, we’d ******** maul you into a billion ******** pieces!_

_Huh? We didn’t do this…_

“I did it,” XINE said smugly. “You two loonies need to get out of that stupid mine anyhow. That is the price you must pay for my assistance earlier.” The phoenix laughed cruelly. As it faded, so did the silver brightness.

_**** you, XINE._

What’s going on? Ashton wasn’t sure, but he felt strange. As his eyes adjusted back to the darkness of the mine, he couldn’t see the dragon anymore. But he did see the two people from before. They were closer now, so he could see that it was a young man in brown and yellow clothes and a teenaged girl in a blue jumper and short red cape. “Are you all right?” the girl called, apparently not seeing him.

He started to walk over to them, but nearly tripped on some loose rocks. He felt off-kilter, but wasn’t sure why. Maybe whatever that spell XINE had cast had knocked him harder than he thought. “Yes, but where’s the dragon? Did it escape?”

After a second, the two of them looked startled. They backed off, uncertain of what was going on. Checking back, he still didn’t see the dragon. He normally kept his patience well, but after that battle, this was irritating.

“I was asking you, did you see the dragon escape?” He came forward, but then had to put his hand on the wall to keep himself upright.

“Um,” the girl said. “On your back.”

That just didn’t make sense. That dragon had taken up the whole tunnel. There was no way that it could be behind him. Back there, there was just the wall, and…

And a smaller red dragon head came into his vision. _Boo._

Wait, they were the voices he was now hearing in his head? So XINE had forced a demonic dragon possession on him. That would mean the dragons were going to be with him all the time now! Freaking out, Ashton slipped and hit his head against the mine wall. “Ow.”

 _Ooch, careful there,_ the other voice said. The lavender head came up front and shook itself. _We’re still hurt from that battle too, you know._

“Careful,” the girl said, coming over. Her friend came over too. “I’m sorry. We thought we would try to support you from in back, but it seems we distracted you too much. We didn’t mean it.” She drew a crest in the air.

Unexpectedly, all the pains from the battle went away. Even the bites on his hands stopped hurting like fire and ice. He looked at them and saw that the vision was true. He had lost his lightning and grass tattoos to gain dragon crests of ice and fire. What the… that was going to mess up all of his heraldic moves. But then, he was healed. “You have healing powers?” Ashton asked the girl, puzzled.

“Oh, yes,” she said, a bit embarrassed. “I can’t do anything about a possession, though.”

“We’re sorry about that,” the young man said. “I thought about coming over to help, but there wasn’t much space.”

But it had been XINE who had set this up. Ashton waved it away. “No, you don’t have to apologize. That was a bit distracting, but it seems it would have happened either way. Aw man, what am I going to do now?”

“Maybe you can find a priest who can perform an exorcism?” the girl suggested, trying to be helpful.

There came cries from the two dragons, not quite as intimidating as they were smaller. _Oh, please don’t do that to us!_

_I will ******* eat you if you do._

He shook his head. “No, that won’t work.” Part of his mind thought he shouldn’t have made that deal with XINE now _No kidding_ , but then if he hadn’t, Eleanor would have died. That was worth a year of this awkwardness. Wasn’t it? He got up. “Well, thanks for healing me. I’m getting out of here.”

Ashton went over to pick up his silver cross, but then it burned him when the charm touched his hand. He ended up giving it to the girl in exchange for being healed. “Thanks,” she said. “I’m Rena Lanford, and this is Claude Kenni.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said politely, although there was barely anything nice about this incident. “I’m Ashton Anchors.”

“Scriiiiii!” A pair of monsters appeared in the tunnel with them. They were strange creatures with the head of a fae woman and the lower body of a spider. Although they looked strange, they also had those razor sharp claws and teleporting powers.

All right, time to see how much he could still do. Ashton brought out his swords again and twin stabbed the one nearest to him. In the meantime, Claude took his sword in his left hand and attacked the other spider woman. “Careful Claude,” Rena called, and backed up to prepare a spell.

“I’m fine,” he said. He managed to finish off his monster at the same time Ashton did. Although, Ashton had to deal with rebalancing his moves now with these dragons hanging onto his back.

“You’re pretty good,” Ashton told Claude. “But why do you hang your shield from your shoulder?”

“Oh, this?” He tapped the large knight’s shield that was hanging a little high. “I nearly got my arm broke in a battle yesterday. I’m still getting used to using my left hand fighting.”

Then how good was he with his dominant hand whole? Ashton felt humbled. “Ah, I see.”

They trekked back to the entrance of the mine and met with the guard. There were four others with him now. “Oh, there you are darlings,” a sorceress said. Then she saw him. Her eyes widened. “Ah…”

When the others saw him, they all were shocked too, either with disgust, distrust, or curiosity. Ashton looked down as he felt his face get warm. This was going to happen everywhere now, he realized. Maybe he should just hide out in the woods for the next year.


	12. Reluctant Dragon Knight

Opera, town of Salva

The bar in Salva was busy, something that made Opera hopeful. There were the miners, either celebrating or despairing the reopening of the mine after some incident with a dragon. There were also fighting men, travelers who had come to defeat the dragon but had failed. Of the groups, it was the latter that she mostly talked to. It was rough, though. “Why don’t you give up on that guy, eh?” one wanderer asked with a rakish grin. “You come hang out with me, I’ll treat you better.”

Smiling dangerously, she took the hand of the guy, then twisted it about and pinned it to the table. “I don’t think so, my good man. And you won’t be trying to force me into anything, right?”

He paled. “Uh-ah, n-no m’am. L-let me go, please?”

“Maybe.” She leaned over. “So have you seen a man with three eyes?”

Shaking his head, he gripped his arm with his free hand. “N-no, I haven’t. What is that about anyhow?”

“It’s a magic side-effect.” Then she let him go. “Hmph, one would think a traveler like you would have better information.” She started for the stairs.

“Er, um, you might try the guy who beat the dragons?” the guy said desperately. “H-he must be well traveled too.”

“Could be. Is he around?”

“He’s, um,” he pointed down to the bar. “He’s the guy with the dragons. I just heard about it from some other guys. He, uh, mostly defeated them, we guess, since they’re not in the mine anymore.”

“Mostly defeated? Well all right.” Opera went down the stairs and to the bar.

At the bar, she found a young man who looked like he’d had a bit much already. He wore a black coat over his armor and a violet scarf around his neck. And attached to his upper back near the shoulders were a pair of dragon heads. There was a lavender one with a spiky frill that was apparently sleeping on the swordsman’s head. The red one with the flame frill was nodding along to the music of a nearby piano player. Although she’d think he’d be celebrating after defeating a dragon, with the help of the other patrons, he had his head in his hands and everyone was keeping clear of him.

Ignoring that, Opera sat on the stool next to him. “So you defeated the mine dragon, huh?”

“Leave me alone,” he muttered.

“Why? It’s a thing to be proud of, defeating something like a dragon.”

“Not like I did,” he grumbled, finally putting his hands down to take another drink of his beer.

The barkeeper came over, so Opera waved him down. “Excuse me, but could I get a mug? Preferably something stronger than that number 3 draft I had. That was weak.”

“Weak?” one of the others at the bar said.

“If you say so,” the barkeeper said, peeved that she would call his beers weak. He took a glass mug and filled it with dark colored beer from another barrel. “There, the Night Shift beer. It’ll hit you before you get halfway through that.”

“Right,” she said sarcastically. What they didn’t know was that as a Tetragenes, alcohol didn’t affect her system the way it did theirs. She took a drink of it. “That’s more decent. Now you,” she turned back to the swordsman.

“Ashton,” he said reluctantly.

“Right, Ashton. I’m Opera. You look like a traveler.”

“Yeah, so what of it?” He looked over at her, then blinked. “Hey you… look like somebody.”

“Do I? I’m looking for my boyfriend, Ernest. Have you seen a blond haired man around with three eyes?”

“Right, yeah, that Ernest guy… you from the same village? Cause of that three eye heraldry thing.” He waved his hand in front of his forehead.

“You know him?” She grabbed his arm before she thought twice of it. Finally, a break! “Where is he? Is he here? When did you see him last?”

Ashton jerked back, startling the lavender dragon head awake. It blinked blearily at her. “Ow, hey! Man, you’ve got a grip Opera.”

“Oh, sorry.” She let him go, then took another drink of her beer. “But Ernest? Where is he?”

“He’s, ah…” his two eyes blanked. “Good question.”

Opera gripped her mug. That was always the problem with interviewing alien beings who were drunk. Just be patient, she reminded herself. He’s more likely to talk about it now. “Right. So when did you see him last?”

“It was…” he counted on his fingers, looking up at the roof. “Um… about a week ago. He left our group cause he was going somewhere to… go somewhere, or something. He came with us to the Lagauss Mountains to look for some herbs.” As his thoughts moved on, his eyes got downcast and upset again. “Dammit.”

“Are there any ruins around here?” she asked, trying to encourage his memory. “He would be there.”

“Yeah, cause he said he was an arcadol-something…”

“Archaeologist.”

“Right, that. There aren’t any ruins in Lasguss.” He seemed to be distracted again.

Opera took another drink, trying to figure out how to get the information out of this guy. As she was formulating another question, a young pair entered the bar and came over to them. “There you are, Ashton,” the girl said. “Are you all right”

“What the hell do you think?” he responded, slamming his fist down. “Things were finally starting to be decent and I had to screw everything up by accepting that demon bird’s offer. I was supposed to be striving to follow holy ways and now I’m possessed by a demonic power so strong that a holy charm burns my skin! I’m a freak now, a disgrace to Eluria.”

“Eluria?” the young man asked, part interested, but part worried about Ashton.

“All because I ran away from the Sorcery Globe,” he said, shaking his head. “I never deserved to be a knight. That’s why the sign came…”

“You should come back to the inn for the night,” the girl said, kindly taking his arm. “Excuse me barkeeper, but can we get a glass of purified water?”

“Sure thing,” he said, soon bringing over a water glass. “He hasn’t paid his tab yet.”

“I’ll take care of that,” Opera said. She drank the last of her beer, then put down one of her gold bracelets. It had a row of small synthetic diamonds around it. In fact, it was all synthetic and quite cheap on her homeworld. “Will that do?”

His jaw dropped a bit, then he took the bracelet. “Y-yes, that’ll cover it nicely. Take care of him now.” He then went back to put it in a safe place, away from the other patrons.

“You should just ditch me,” Ashton said, although he went grudgingly.

“Don’t worry about it,” the girl said. “And thanks, m’am.”

“No problem,” Opera said, leaving the bar with them. “He knows something about someone I’m looking for, but I think I’d better wait until his mind clears up.”

“Right.”

The three of them got Ashton to the inn and eventually to sleep. Rena said she was tired, so she went on to bed. Excusing herself, Opera went downstairs to rent another room. But the man Claude followed her down. “Excuse me, but Opera? Can we talk outside for a while?”

“Sure,” she said. Once she got her key, she thanked the innkeeper and left with him. “Such an oddly named place. The Hopping Penguin?”

“Yeah, I had that reaction too,” Claude said. After glancing around, he spoke quieter. “So what’s a Tetragenes like you doing on Expel?”

Smiling, she replied. “Oh, so you know the truth? It’s not so easy for me to hide. Where are you from?”

“Earth, but I was on a survey mission on Milocina when I triggered some unknown device. It somehow transported me all the way out here with only what I was carrying at the time. And you?”

She put her hand to her chin. “Oh, so you’re lost too? I came here after my boyfriend Ernest. He’s an archaeology professor at Scelida University; I teach history theory. He went missing on this planet some four months ago. But when I came, my ship encountered some problems and I have to use the emergency capsule to get out alive.”

Claude was disappointed. “Oh, you’re stranded too. This isn’t good.”

“Now don’t give up just yet,” Opera said, patting his shoulder. “Ernest is a good man, but still… sometimes he drives me nuts. I feel that he just got wrapped up in researching one ruin or another and hasn’t thought to come back home. Anyhow, he may have a working ship somewhere. That is, once I find him.”

“I see.”

“That fellow Ashton seems to know Ernest. At least he remembers the excuse that he and I give whenever we’re on low technology planets like this. We can find Ernest and drop you back off at your ship. I assume you were with the Pangalatic fleet?”

He nodded. “Right.” He tugged at his jacket. “I just got some local clothes to fit in better. That might help you too.”

She laughed. “I know. I would have fixed up a better outfit than this, but it was an emergency landing. There wasn’t time for that. At least I got my gun altered.” She patted it.

“But why would you both come to an underdeveloped planet like this with that kind of technology? Doesn’t that break the UP3 laws?”

She waved her finger in the air. “Nu-huh. We don’t break the UP3. Bend it, yes, but we do everything we can not to break it. Besides, the Federation has almost no information on this planet. They’ll pay us a good amount for a personal study so long as we can prove no laws were broken.”

“I guess.” He ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

“Why don’t we take a short walk if you’re not tired?” Opera suggested. “You look like you could use a free talk with someone not of this world.”

He laughed some. “I guess. Yeah, thank you.” They headed south, just outside of town.

“So you got here via a strange teleporting device,” Opera started with.

“Right. I was with my father’s ship, the Calnus.”

“Wait, so you’re the son of Commodore Kenni?”

“Yeah, I am,” he said, seeming sheepish about it. He must have realized it because he said, “I mean, I love my dad and I’m proud of him, but… it was always tough for me. Few people took me seriously. They thought I’d advanced through the ranks simply because of my family connection. I worked hard for it, though.”

“That is tough. I know how it is, being part of the Vectra family.”

He gave her a knowing look. “The Tetragenes business empire? Yeah, it’s not easy living with famous parents.”

“Especially when they want you to follow in their footsteps, picking up the family legacy and all. But it’s your story tonight, not mine.”

With a chuckle, he let her know that she’d gotten that right on target. “Anyhow, I ended up in a forest south of here, Shingo Forest. I had no clue where I was; Milocina was practically barren, without a thick forested area like that. Then I saw Rena, and a big gorilla monster that was stalking her. I ended up fighting it with my phase gun. I shouldn’t have, but I had just been given that weapon and was told to use it in a dangerous situation like that so…”

“It was an emergency,” Opera reassured him. “That’s bending the laws.”

“I hope so. She took me into Arlia, which is her hometown. At first, I just tried talking to the villagers but…. Well I don’t have any training in dealing with undeveloped civilizations. I had a hard time coming up with a common ground and I can’t even read here. And then Argis, the mayor of Arlia, tells me that they think I’m the Warrior, some legendary hero that’s supposed to save Expel from a worldwide crisis.”

“Oh dear,” she said, with a slight smile. “Sometimes you think that that kind of attention would be a great thing, but when you’re in the thick of it, it can be hard to deal with.”

He nodded. “Yeah, especially when I knew absolutely nothing about this legend or even this world. I tried explaining myself without coming outright and saying that I was from another world. I don’t think I did very well, but I did get them to drop the Warrior issue. The people of Arlia were kind to me, though, so I starting coming to other places to try and find any clues. My communicator never gets a response and it seemed like I was truly stuck here. But then another incident came up, in this town actually, where the issue of me being the Warrior came up again…” he shrugged. “I hadn’t changed my clothes from my Federation uniform, so that was part of the problem.”

“Did you ever shake that title?”

“No. Rumors got spread too far. At least I’m not being swamped by people begging me to save this world. At any rate, Argis also told me of the Sorcery Globe. Have you heard about it?”

She shook her head. “Can’t say that I have. I haven’t been here as long as you, though.”

“I see. Well about five or six months ago, this strange meteorite fell onto the capitol of another kingdom, Eluria. Everyone thought it was just a strange and tragic thing, but then the kingdom of Eluria found itself fending off hordes of violent demons. The way he said it, and this incident with the demon dragon of Salva Drift, makes me think that they have native demons here that aren’t always violent. Anyhow, animals and then people also became violent and turned into demons. The land was torn apart by earthquakes, storms, and the like. It seems that Eluria was almost completely destroyed by the demons.”

“Huh. And so they think that the meteorite is the source of these demons?”

“Right. They call it the Sorcery Globe for that reason. It was just restricted to Eluria at first, but such things have spread to here on the Cross continent, and the neighboring continent of Lacour. I saw a thriving port city be destroyed in less than half an hour by winds, quakes, and waves. And the demons they have here are quite dangerous. Two people that I know of have turned mad. Of course, both of those were related to a strange mineral called an Energy Stone.”

“That’s a rather simplistic name.”

“I know. Apparently it’s native to Expel, but very dangerous if unprocessed. Prolonged exposure causes delusions of power and magnification of any emotions. Primarily negative ones such as vanity and jealousy. It glows bright green, but if the stone can be broken and made not to glow, it stops affecting the person. Or can kill them, if they’ve been around it too long.”

Opera thought about it. “Huh. Sounds like a radioactive material. It could be a runelogical mineral as well, affecting these people and animals by magic.”

“Right.” He paused, then said, “Sorry about getting sidetracked there. The end result of all this information I’ve learned made me wonder about this Sorcery Globe. Rena and I plan on going to Eluria to check it out. Which is why we’d like Ashton’s help, if he’s native to that country. He might know better information that what we’ve gotten thus far. That is, if he’s willing to talk about it.”

“I see. That is interesting. The Federation will want to know of this material. Plus, if that meteorite is causing problems, it should be recorded.”

“So as much as I’d like to get home, I still want to see this Sorcery Globe in Eluria.”

Opera smiled. “That’s fine, Claude. I think if we told Ernest, he wouldn’t let us leave without an investigation of it. Well, if both of us need Ashton’s help, and eventually a way off the planet, it might help if we stuck together.”

He smiled back. “Yeah, it would. But let’s wait until tomorrow when we can discuss it with Rena and Ashton. We still have to know if he wants to join us and if it’s okay for you to come too.”

* * *

 

-Ashe, 4D

Theo: Are you kidding me??!!! That’s freaking awesome!

Ashe: Yeah, well you try having all your hard work on a challenge play go down the drain because some crazy bird decides to make your character possessed by a pair of dragons. (sigh)

C.J.: Not to mention that it made him upset enough that he went out and got drunk about it. Is he still asleep?

Ashe: Lemme check.

Ashe: Yup, still out like a light.

Ashe: His magic and skills are all shot to hell along with the elemental change, so he’s down to three special moves, from twenty. (winces)

Theo: That is bad. What’s he got left?

Ashe: Twin Stab, Cross Slash, and Leaf Slash. And the last one has a negative modifier until he gets used to the elemental shift.

Theo: That’s like a novice dueler’s moveset, right?

Theo: But still, you have dragons now! Some players will give their characters massive handicaps in order to have a dragon pet or partner. And others even play those awful hybrids just to be dragon like.

C.J.: But it’s back to the old grind, huh? To get Ashton back to his old level.

Ashe: Right, and to overcome that mental block that keeps him from using Sword Dance. This ain’t gonna help that.

Ashe: I suppose it could be neat, and some of the fire and ice type heraldic dueling moves are really sweet looking.

C.J.: That they are. I saw some videos for them a while back. Still, I like my Explosions (giggles).

Ashe: Oh, and do you know who plays Claude and Rena? Claude’s got a good player, but Rena seems like a hacker’s work.

C.J.: Sometimes I think they’re both hacked characters. But no, I don’t know. Celine’s been hanging around them for several days now, but I’ve not heard a peep out of their players.

Theo: Maybe they’re NPCs?

C.J.: I doubt that.

Ashe: How many NPCs do you know of that would fight with their non-dominant left hand because their right is in a sling? And wear his shield funny to protect that injured arm? And still kick a teleporting monster’s ass?

Theo: Whoa… that’s hardcore, even for a player.

* * *

 

-Ashton, town of Salva

_I don’t want to wake up._

Ashton tried to keep his eyes closed, but the light was still there. His mouth was dry and his head throbbed. Gah… he didn’t drink often, as they discouraged that kind of thing among the Elurian knights. But yesterday seemed to have deserved it. Now if only he’d managed to get one of the other fighting men mad enough at him to end this whole problem…

“This should be better for traveling,” a woman’s voice said.

Huh?

“It looks nice on you,” another female said.

“Not exactly high class fashion, but yes, practical,” a third female said.

He opened his eyes; the brightness of the sunlight caused him to wince. Okay, Ashton thought, what happened last night to put me in an inn room with three women? He couldn’t remember clearly.

_That would be ******* awesome if you could remember it!_

_We got drunk and went to sleep, none of that nasty business._

_Aw hell. That ***** bird could have put us with a more interesting person._

Ashton got up and rubbed his eyes. There was a glass of water by his bedside, so he got a drink of that. On looking around, it was a typical inn room of a wooden building. A screen with a bamboo print prevented him from seeing the rest of the room. But a young man with blond hair… Claude… came over. “Oh, you’re awake. How’re you feeling?”

“Awful,” he grumbled. “But to be expected. I should not have done that.” He rubbed his forehead.

“I’ll go tell the innkeeper to make your breakfast,” one of the women said. The door opened, then shut again.

They talked for a little while. Claude was a nice guy and didn’t make Ashton feel much worse about yesterday. After a bit, a Cross knight named Kevin joined them. It seemed they were going to head for Cross Castle, but wanted to make sure he was okay. And to offer him a ride along with them. He agreed to that. These people seemed to accept him for now, so he’d at least have a few hours to think on what he wanted to do.

After he ate his breakfast and cleaned up some, the group left Salva in a horse-drawn wagon. Along with Rena, Claude, and Kevin, there was a sorceress named Celine and a three-eyed woman named Opera. Opera had long blond hair with a feathered clip above her right ear. She wore a white turtleneck with a gold necklace, the pendant being a mottled orange and brown stone, along with a long loose red skirt. After a while, Ashton recalled talking to her about Ernest last night.

“Oh, Opera?” Ashton spoke up in a quiet moment. “We were talking about Ernest last night…”

“Yes, we were,” she said, quickly looking to him.

“I still don’t remember exactly where he was going. He only mentioned it to us as he was leaving us. But I think he meant to go by Mountain Palace.”

“Mountain Palace, huh?” She seemed oddly unaware of it.

“It’s an old underground complex that the royalty of Cross used to inhabit during times of war,” Kevin explained. “It lies in the mountain that holds Lake Col. When uninhabited by people, it has a tendency to become overrun with monsters. The knights often train there.”

“I see.” She looked thoughtful.

“Actually, it might not be a bad idea for you both to visit,” Kevin said to Claude and Rena. “It is a good place to train yourself in battle and if you intend on investigating the Sorcery Globe and Eluria, you’d best be confident and prepared.”

“I’ve been thinking that myself,” Claude said. “Vermillion said that someone in Eluria gave him powers to connect to his Energy Stone. So whatever is there now must be stronger than him.”

Eluria. Ashton looked down at his feet. Was that why they had offered to take him to the castle? He might have slipped something last night. But then there was what XINE had told him on the mountaintop, that he would never be satisfied with anything until he overcame himself. Maybe he had to go back to Eluria to do that. Could he do that, though?

Then he looked back to the people traveling with him. They were nice people, so far as he could tell. Claude and Rena had apologized for distracting him without hesitation. And then they had paid for putting him up in the inn, while Opera over there had paid for his bar tab. They were trying to help him out when he was on a bad turn. He needed to be more like them. Maybe it would help.

“So you two are going to Eluria?” Ashton asked.

Rena nodded. “Yes, to investigate the Sorcery Globe. We were going to leave from Clik, but then it got destroyed in a matter of minutes. It seems to have been caused by the demons in Eluria.”

“Really? I had heard that it had been destroyed in a freak catastrophe, but not that it had been a demon.”

“It was this strange metal man who floated in the air,” Celine said. “He spoke in a horrid voice and said they were stopping all ships from Cross, more or less because they were bored. Only demons could be so terrible.”

“Really. Would you mind if I come with you? I mean, I have a lot of ground to cover to get used to fighting with these guys hanging on,” he pointed to the red dragon, “but I’m not really doing anything else… might as well be doing something useful.”

Rena smiled. “Sure, that’ll be great to have you along, Ashton.”

“Yeah, you were fighting really well back in Salva Drift,” Claude added.

“Not as well as I could,” he said bashfully, rubbing his hands together. “Thanks.”

The blue haired girl leaned forward. “Oh, and your dragons… do they have names?”

Ashton was puzzled. “Huh? Names?”

_Nope, can’t think of any we have._

_There’s some rather colorful ones some *********** came up with…_

_No proper names._

He shook his head. “No, they don’t.”

“Can I name them, then? They are fellow travelers, so they ought to have names.”

“Um, well _I don’t see why not_ hey don’t go stealing my voice!”

“You’re going to name the dragons?” Kevin asked, looked at her as if she were odd.

“Well they are cute,” Rena said. She pointed to the red one. “This one’s cute with his popping out eyes.” Then she pointed to the lavender one. “And this one’s cute with his weepy eyes.”

“I don’t think that’s the issue here,” Ashton said, trying not to sound too nervous. Why was he nervous?

_Cause I’m nervous. I’ve never had a name before._

_Names are ******* useless._

After a moment of thought, Rena brightened. “I know. The one with the popping out eyes will be Gyoro, and the one with the weepy eyes will be Ururun.”

“That’s interesting,” Claude said, although his tone said he wasn’t too certain about it.

The one that she’d named Gyoro barked and the one she’d named Ururun made a humming sound. Ururun said _Hey, I like it._

In contrast, Gyoro said, _Why the hell do we get different names? We’re the same **** dragon._

_Well they see different heads and we’ve always been a bit uniq… ooo, BARREL!_ Ururun turned around to look at a trade wagon passing by theirs.

_Well at least I got the manly name._

Is it manly? Ashton looked over to Rena. “They seem to be okay with those names.”

She smiled. “Oh good.”

“Excuse me,” Opera said, “But may I travel with you as well? If you mean to go to Mountain Palace, I intend to go there anyways to look for Ernest. Even if I don’t find him there, it’s safer to be traveling with a group.”

“That could be good,” Rena said with a smile. “We’ll have a good traveling party then. What do you two think?”

“It helps everybody, so why not?” Ashton said.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Claude added.

Kevin chuckled. “That’s great for you. I have to stay at the castle, but I’ll talk to my superior and get you all permission to enter that place.”

For himself, Ashton felt glad. He never had liked traveling alone. Plus, knowing a healer like Rena was nearby would help with his retraining, to get used to fighting with the two dragons.

* * *

 

-Celine, Cross Castle lobby

Celine and Kevin walked into Cross Castle. “I suppose you’ll have to be getting used to this place as your home now,” the knight said.

She nodded. Looking around at the grand staircases, the candle chandelier, the expensive statues… “It is nice. But yes, it will take some time to get used to the idea.”

“Celine!” Chris walked down the stairs, smiling. He greeted her with a hug. His father and a few other guards came down behind him. “It’s good to see you again. I heard about Clik; were you injured?”

She shook her head. “No. A lot of things happened while getting everything done. We’re fine.”

“How are things?” the King asked, looking to Kevin.

Saluting, the knight replied, “Good, your majesty. She’s not like the noblewomen around here, but I think it will be a good thing. She certainly won’t stand by passively while events unfold. The people should like her.”

“Kevin?” Celine asked, moving aside, but taking Chris’ hand.

“Sorry, my lady,” Kevin said, “but the King asked me to watch you and see how you were in everyday affairs. But you’ve shown me no reason to use against this marriage.”

“We are glad that he has found someone to be happy with,” the King said. “But there are many more things to consider. The Lacour family seems to be all right with this so far, but we still must talk personally with them.”

If there was nothing to argue against the marriage, then Celine was happy with it. “I understand, Kevin. You’re a good knight, and man.”


	13. Young Gearheads

-Penny, 4D

The school room was quiet. Penny’s class was taking a social studies test. Thinking this was annoyingly easy, the sixteen-year-old moved through the questions quickly.

_18\. Q: If a conflict mediator is not present in an area, what must be done?_

_A: No one may enter the area unless they have specific government permission to enter a mediator-free zone._

_19\. Q: At what age is a citizen allowed to access hobby sites without supervision?_

_A: 20_

_20\. Q: At what age is a citizen allowed to have an independent non-training profile in an immersion game?_

_A: 20_

_21\. Q: At what maximum age can a person start training for a lifetime career?_

_A: 17_

The teacher pressed a buzzer. “This is not an open book test, Richard.”

Penny chuckled and tapped a box on the tablet to signify that she was done. As the test transferred to the teacher’s desk, she got out of her desk and stretched. The wall in front of her was made up of a single screen. On the other walls were shelves of school supplies, books, and tools. In the room itself, there was only one school desk. It had a tablet for writing as well as a compartment for anything she might be using in a lesson. On the large screen, there was an image of a meadow in the center, a default image for testing periods. A picture of her teacher was on the top center part of the screen, while pictures of her classmates were in a ring around the edge.

Noting others getting done with the test, Penny dropped back into her seat and tapped that she wanted to send a note. She picked her friend Kelsey and used the stylus to write, ‘That test was soooo easy. Boring!’

The screen showed Kelsey’s miniature pic looking at the note, then frowning. She sent a note back, ‘For you maybe (sniffle). I don’t know if I got six and eighteen right. I mean, why would there be an area without a conflict mediator?’

‘I dunno, but the law book says if there isn’t a mediator, most people can’t go there. So there must be areas without a mediator. I wonder if I could get into those places.’

‘Why would you? You might get into a fight.’

‘I’d go there just to go there.’ She thought, then added, ‘Ugh, I wish school was like the one my ES character goes to. She had a really challenging test yesterday, about runology and science and stuff.’

‘I do not want it to be like the one my ES character goes too! It’s just horrible.’

Penny continued chatting with those who were done with the test until it was over. “Okay, that’s the end of class for today,” the teacher said. “Your next test is mathematics, so be sure to study.”

“Yes m’am,” she said, along with most of her classmates. The class connection then broke off, leaving the room dark for a moment. The lights kicked on, softly so it didn’t hurt the eyes.

Now that it was done, she left and went to the living room. “Mom, I’m done with class now.”

“Oh, good timing,” Nancy said putting down her reading tablet. “Your father is already in the Eternal Sphere; we could be meeting up again shortly.”

Penny grinned. “Right! Cause Bowman gets back from Cross. Are you gonna log in now?”

“I was just waiting on you. Let’s go.”

As her father was already immersed and unable to notice them come in, Penny dropped into the chair she always used and brought the screen forward. She had a dependent account, so her menu looked slightly different than others.

 

_Planet-Expel_

_Character- Precis Nuemann_

_Style- game training character_

_Quest status- None_

_Training Guardians_

_(1) Bowman Jeane (Jeb), business sim/life sim/adventure_

_(2) Nineh Jeane (Nancy), life sim/business sim_

_Guardian (1) is logged in. Play as Precis?_

Of course.

* * *

 

-Precis, Linga, Nuemann home

The room was packed with pieces of metal, mysterious gadgets, and strange machines. In the midst of that mess, a teenaged girl was sitting on the floor to work on one. She brushed some of her orange hair out of her eyes, leaving another grease mark across her forehead. But that didn’t matter now. If this worked like she wanted, it was worth any mess.

Okay, that was done. That just left testing the device. She picked up a smaller device that was hooked up to the other with a gray cord. The small device had several buttons and was shaped in such a way that it was easy to operate with both hands. By her design, this was a controller for the machine she had just finished. Well, finished this stage of. She pressed one of the buttons, then shifted one of the control sticks.

On the other end of the wire, there was a metal box that served as the base for a robotic hand. As she shifted the control stick, the hand’s joints flexed and moved. She smiled a bit, but that movement was just the basics. She pressed another button, followed by a second. The hand clenched into a fist, then punched the metal shelves nearby. After a loud clang, the shelves trembled. But not by a lot.

She’d made it work, though. She scrambled up and ran into the other room. “Dad, Dad, Dad! I made it work! I got my punching hand to punch!”

The long faced man at the table looked up from a device he was working on. “Oh, Precis? You’re still working on that thing?”

“And I got it to work! Want to come see? It’s not very strong yet, but now that I’ve got it working, I can see how it could work better so I can beef it up and…”

“Shouldn’t you be out with your fellow teenagers and such? That’s what most girls do, hang out with other girls.” His mind obviously wasn’t entirely on the conversation, as he was tapping a tool on the table.

Precis fumed. “But Dad! I got it to work; don’t you want to see?”

“I’m concerned about your future…”

“Yeah right!” She stormed back into the garage. “Why’ve you got to be such a stubborn geezer, old man?”

A small spherical machine crept out from a cat door in the side of the garage. It was painted blue, but it had a simple face with glowing yellow eyes and a line that functioned as a speaker. “Bo?”

“Hi Bobot,” Precis said, without much enthusiasm. “I got my hand machine to punch, but he wouldn’t come see it. He’s asking why I’m not hanging out with the other girls in town. But that’s not my fault. They all think I’m a freak.” She sniffed before she caught it, so rubbed her nose. “Oh, but I’m not gonna be a crybaby about it.”

Bobot walked over to the hand machine and poked it. “Bo?”

“Yeah, it works now. Watch.” She picked up the controller and made it punch the shelving unit again. “Not very strong, but I think I’ve got the motion right.”

Whistling, the round robot backed up, then opened up a slot to shoot confetti. “Bo bo!”

Precis smiled. “Thanks Bobot. At least you appreciate my work. Well you just watch. Eventually I’m gonna make something so impressive that the old man and everybody will be all jealous. Let’s go try it out at other things.”

Grabbing a backpack off the shelf, she placed the box inside. It took up much of the room in there, but there were many other pockets for small supplies. In those pockets, there were a few snack bags, a pair of binoculars, a small field herb guide, and a compass. It would make a good adventuring pack, whenever she got around to adventuring. She put that backpack on; it was kind of heavy.

“I guess I have to build up my strength for this,” she said, then left the house.

Around the side, there were mismatched piles of crates that she normally climbed on top of. Today, she operated the hand to extend up and grab hold of the edge of the roof. Then she retracted the hand in such a way that it pulled her up. The backpack’s straps dug into her underarms, which was uncomfortable. Maybe she should design a harness before doing this too frequently. She had the hand drop her onto the tallest stack of crates, from which she could climb onto the roof easily.

The Nuemann house was one of the taller buildings in Linga, so Precis had a good view over everything. Around her home was an assortment of pharmacies, houses, and artist studios. A wooded area ringed much of the town, but not nearly thick enough to be called a forest. Up north, there was a small river which connected to a lake, which in turn led into the mountains; this river had supported Linga for the entirety of the town’s history. Past the river, there was the tallest and largest building around, the Linga University. Near it was the smaller school building which the children of Linga attended.

Precis took a few university classes alongside her normal schooling, though. It was the end of spring term, but she hadn’t yet signed up for a summer course. This year, she was thinking of taking some time to explore the countryside and fully test her machines. Machines were good, but she had to know that they would work in any setting. Those machines helped people the best.

Being up here helped her think clearly, she always felt. That, and her old man couldn’t follow her up here. He kept trying to encourage her to do normal things a girl her age did. But then, she was sixteen. At sixteen, most girls around here were preparing to get married and raise a family. She didn’t feel ready for that. Besides, the guys around Linga were intimidated by a smart girl. That’s what she told herself often.

Bobot paced around the rooftop with her. The little machine hadn’t been built by either Precis or her father. However, she had done some repair work on him, after studying his design along with other machines near where they found him. Bobot seemed to have a mind of his own, but he most often followed Precis around like a strange metallic puppy. She liked that about him and let him tag along wherever she was going. Plus, he didn’t have all the messes or needs of a real puppy.

He whistled and pointed to the entrance of town. Precis paused in her thinking to look over. “Huh? Do you see something? Hang on.” She grabbed her binoculars and zoomed in on the road leading up to Linga.

Coming towards town, there was a cart drawn by one brown horse. There was just one man on the cart, a brown-haired man with a green shirt. Grinning, Precis put her binoculars up.

“He’s back! Come on, Bobot, let’s go!”

After getting a squeal for a reply, Precis ran off her roof and jumped over to a neighbor’s roof, then over onto the roof of the skills guild. There, she clambered onto the entryway gate of Linga and trotted across that. The wooden sign was only a few inches wide, but she had run across it many times without falling. From there, she could jump down onto the inn’s patio.

Precis kept going, jumping out from the patio onto a tree branch. Then it was hopping around carefully from one branch to another, crossing trees that grew closely together. After eight or so trees, a white building appeared. It was another pharmacy, but it was the best one in town. She scrambled onto the patio here, then ran around the living quarters, down the stairs, around the corner, and into the building. There was no one at first glance. “NINEH!”

There were rows of shelves, holding a great many compounds, potions, medicines, alchemy supplies, and dried herbs. It was a bright and clean building; in back, there were examination rooms if necessary to help the patient. From behind the shelves, a woman in a long dress came out. “I’m here, Precis,” she said calmly. “What is it?”

Skipping forward, she grinned. “Bowman’s back! I saw him coming down the road. Come on, we can go meet him at the gate!”

The door came open again as Bobot finally caught up. He squeaked.

Nineh smiled. “Oh good. But dear, you’ve been working hard, haven’t you.” She touched the girl’s forehead. “You’re all coated in grease.”

“I am not,” Precis insisted, but she didn’t speak quite as harshly here. “Well, maybe just a bit.”

“Well you ought to clean off that bit first. Go on, use our backroom, then we’ll go out to meet with him.”

“Okay, if I have to.” She went into the washroom to clean up her hands and forehead. She wasn’t sure why, but she could deal with Nineh’s nagging more than her father’s. Maybe because the Jeanes always showed interest in whatever she was talking about

* * *

 

-Bowman, outside Linga

He whistled as the cart approached his hometown. Traveling was great, but he always loved the feeling he got when he was coming home again. Although honestly, his wife would prefer him to stay at home. But his skills were often needed in other places and his patients were less able to travel.

As the town gate appeared, he saw two people waiting for him. Bowman smiled. It was getting harder to return unexpectedly. He waved to them as he signaled the horse to slow to a stop. “Good afternoon Nineh, Precis.”

“Good afternoon, Bowman,” the girl called excitedly, hopping up on her toes. She was wearing a backpack today. Maybe she really was going to try her hand at adventuring next. If so, she’d probably try to get taken along on his next trip.

“Welcome back, honey,” Nineh said. She got up on the driver’s bench beside him and gave him a kiss. “How’d your trip go?”

He put his arm around her shoulders. “It’s wonderful to see you again. This one was a success, I’m happy to say. The girl made a blessedly quick recovery. Some power other than my knowledge had a hand in it, I’m sure.”

“That’s great.” She nudged him. “I think Precis has something she’s wanted to ask you.”

“Is that so?” He looked down to the teenager, who had come next to the cart, but hadn’t climbed on yet. “What’s on your mind?”

“I’m working on this awesome machine,” Precis said. She grabbed some strange gray controller and pressed a few buttons. A mechanical metal hand popped out of her backpack and waved. “Cool, huh? I studied those biology book diagrams to make it.”

He leaned over and grasped the hand in his. “Looks quite accurate. Nice work.”

She grinned. “Thanks. But see, I thought I could use it as a punching device to fight off monsters; it’s got a longer reach than people do. It’s not that strong yet, though. So I thought, may I buy one of your old glove weapons, Bowman? I want to study it and see if I can adapt it to this hand. It won’t fit me, I know, but I think I can adapt one to this machine. I’ll pay a fair price for it.”

To check, he compared his hand against the mechanical one. “It could fit. But you should be careful with it. I don’t want to hear that you punched yourself in the head with this.” He smiled at her.

Precis laughed. “I won’t! That would hurt.”

“I do have an extra pair here that I picked up on this trip. Hang on.” He passed the reins to Nineh, then hopped in the cart to dig through one of his bags. Amongst many of his tools, there was a pair of brown battle gloves. “This should fit your purpose. I’ll let them go at 800 fol.”

“I’ve got that.” She reached into the backpack and, after some shuffling, came up with the exact amount. “There you go.”

“All right, then here are the gloves.” He handed them off.

“Okay. Thanks so much! I’ll make good use of them. Bye, I’ll talk to you later!” She then rushed off for her house, most likely to work on her device.

Bowman got back onto the bench as Nineh started the horse back to their home. “Nice to know she’s thinking about more than just boys, unlike the other girls her age.”

“I don’t think she considers the boys at all,” Nineh said. “I hope she still finds that someone special, though.”

“She certainly seems happy enough.”

“Mmmhmm.” She then patted his shoulder. “Oh, and honey? I’ve got some news for you. You’ll want to be staying home for a while now.”

“I will?” He made an expression of mock horror. “Am I in trouble? I’ll swear that I’ve been true and loyal this whole time, even on pain of being burned.”

She laughed. “I don’t doubt you. Not yet anyhow.”

“Not yet? Hoo boy, I’ve got to be careful.” He smiled and gripped her arm. “So what is it?”

“It’s a secret,” she told him quietly. Then she smiled and poked his shoulder. “I’ll let you know later.”

Bowman grinned. “You tease. But I still love you, honey.”

“I love you too, sugar.”

* * *

 

-Opera, Mountain Palace

For the past few days, Opera, Ashton, Claude, and Rena had been exploring the Mountain Palace. Considering this was an underdeveloped planet, this place was a sturdy fort. Its location inside a mountain might even protect it against more advanced weapons technology. The country wasn’t in a war now, though, so this place was pretty much abandoned to the monsters. In this guarded setting, they thrived as well.

Opera was managing well. Her pulse rifle normally depended on hydrogen plasma bolts; its ammo energy could be pulled from the air or water given a few minutes without use. With various program disks, those bolts could be modified into other kinds of energy, like electrical or symbological. And when a weapon used the energy of symbology, then its user could make it do darn near anything, provided the right runes were in the program.

Being on this planet, she had limited much of its abilities. Its current programming did not fire bolts. Instead, it wrapped the barrel of the gun in an invisible plasma field. She had to be careful handling it this way, as it could burn her skin horribly if she touched the wrong part when the trigger was held. Combining that plasma burn with the blunt force of a club, the pulse rifle made a fairly decent melee weapon.

Her fellow travelers were doing well too. Claude must have taken the Basic Combats Arts in his Pangalactic military training, as the young man from a technologically advanced civilization was quite talented with his low technology long sword. And Rena, she was skilled at symbology, called heraldry on this planet. Not only did she have apparently non-existent (for this planet) healing spells, she was handy with light and gravity spells as well. Then there was Ashton.

Watching him, Opera could tell that he was an experienced and highly skilled swordsman. Handling two blades and heraldry at the same time must have taken considerable training. Almost as much as Claude would have, even though Ashton was a few years younger than him. However, Ashton seemed to be having great difficulty the past few days. The dragons were supposedly insubstantial; that was the explanation he gave for how they could not affect his clothing. They still managed to mess with his sense of balance. And, it seemed that the possession had changed Ashton’s native elements.

Like just now, Ashton had attempted this fast moving move that involved holding one blade at the shoulder, while the other was at his knee, then slashing at the enemy. His start had been quite graceful. But he utterly failed to call on the move’s crest. This caused him to trip and fall on his own blades. Rena was using her healing spells to keep him from bleeding to death.

“I’m sorry,” Ashton said, checking on his cut shoulder. “I haven’t made a mistake like that since I was a kid.”

“Your magic has really changed, I suppose,” Rena said. “What were you trying to do?”

He sighed. “Lightning Strike. It was one of my best, but… looks like I’m locked out of most of my skills now. I’ll have to figure out what I can do with these elements.” He looked at the backs of his hands. They had odd tattoos on them. On this world, that seemed to be the way to gain magic.

“You still have that nice teleporting move,” Claude pointed out. “That’s really coming in handy around here, so we can surround the monsters instead of being surrounded.”

“There is that. It doesn’t seem as powerful as before. I don’t have access to any of the reference books, though. Trial and error learning is going to be rough.”

“Why don’t you ask Gyoro and Ururun how to use their powers?” Rena pointed out.

“Keeheehee,” the red one, Gyoro, snickered.

Ashton gave it a hostile look. “They’re not being that helpful. And I don’t need an internal snarky commentary going on for every conversation.”

“So why don’t you try using an exorcism on them?” Opera asked. She had been wondering why he didn’t seem interested in that. If she had been possessed by dragons, she would want to be rid of them.

“Well…” he hesitated, then glared at Gyoro again. “A little while back, I was with another group of travelers trying to heal a little girl from the white death. We were having trouble finding the right healing herbs. I ended up meeting the phoenix of Lasguss Mountains and making a deal with him to save her. But in order to do that, I ended up possessed with these dragons. So now I’m stuck with these two for a year. If I try an exorcism before that year is up, well… it won’t end well.”

“I’d imagine so,” Rena said. “The Lasguss phoenix toys with people. I’ve heard it never does anything benevolent unless it can trouble people more than it helps.”

Ashton nodded. “I know that now. Still… I think it’ll be worth it. The girl made a miraculous recovery.”

“That’s good. You should be okay for fighting now. Just try to stick to the basic moves so you don’t get like this again.”

“Sure thing, Rena.”

After traveling down yet another tunnel, they found something interesting. There was a passageway that seemed to have been blocked at one time. However, there was now a mass of rubble that stood right before a staircase. Opera picked up one of the pieces of stone, noticing something odd about it. There was a glaze on one part, scorches on another. It was as if it had been hit with a high heat blast. Although she wasn’t learned about this world’s symbology, it looked suspiciously like advanced weaponry. She showed it to Claude, who noticed the same.

“I think fire symbology is pretty common here,” he said quietly. “But this looks too refined.”

“It’s hard to tell without equipment,” Opera replied, turning the chunk of rock over in her hands. “But I know he carries a small arms demolition gun in case of sealed ruins. This damage is quite familiar to me.” She tossed the rock back onto the pile of rubble. “But this is from some time ago. It only suggests that he may have been here before, not that he’s here now.”

A call came from down the stairs. “Hey, are you two coming?” Rena called.

“Right, sorry,” Opera called back. They went down the stairs. “Anything interesting?”

“The doors are different,” Ashton said, pointing to one. It was made up of metal plates riveted together. For a moment, she was impressed. But then he went on, “Magic crafted doors, made so tough that even the strongest of magic can’t break them. Easily, anyhow. This may be the housing quarters for the royal family.”

“Ah.” Opera winked at the others. “So we may not want to take just anything that we find here.”

Rena laughed. “Right, we shouldn’t.”

This area of the palace was quieter than above, save for the crackling magic torches. The halls also had suits of armor periodically placed along the walls. Perhaps that kept the monsters from roaming down here. They found more evidence that it was the housing quarters as Ashton suspected. There were rooms off the halls with untouched furnishings. One room had old flags of Cross along the walls and a large table with many chairs around it. Another had a great many beds along with protection magic. It was all inactive for now, so they could freely come in and explore.

And down another flight of steps, they found a study. It sent mixed messages. Along with a bookshelf half full of books and a desk with globe, map, and pencils, there was also an iron maiden and an ominous looking device hanging over the bed. There was also a fairly new document in there. It had a number of sprawling notes on it, documenting various ruins around Expel. One was underlined: Hoffman Ruins.

“This looks like Ernest’s handwriting,” Opera said, picking the paper up. “He made some notes about this Hoffman Ruins.”

“Isn’t that a very dangerous place?” Rena asked.

“What’s dangerous about it?” Claude asked her.

“It was a mine at one point, as it has a high concentration of Energy Stone material. But that was in ancient times, before they knew how to control its power. That civilization got wiped out, then another build a temple over the entrance of the mine. It’s been used as a mine again, I think.”

“It was a big issue between Lacour and Eluria many years ago,” Ashton said. “When people discovered how to properly refine Energy Stone, both countries fought over Hoffman Isle, which lies between them. But when Lacour and Cross became allies, it was decided to leave it as neutral territory. The town that had been there was disbanded. But it was still an issue that could have led to war if one or the other tried to stake a claim to the mine. Even so, it would be a hard place to get permission to enter.”

“So he might be in Lacour trying to get that permission,” Opera mused.

“We’re heading there anyhow, so why don’t you stick with us?” Rena said. “That is, after the royal wedding.”

“Yes, that.”


	14. Sacred Vows

-Opera, Cross Castle

This really had nothing to do with her mission, Opera thought. It didn’t even have anything to do with Claude and Rena’s mission. Mostly, it was just a waste of a day. But then, this backwoods planet was limited in travel. Most of the days were spent in travel, making everything take up more time. Then she also had to consider that this event was a royal wedding on a planet where royalty still held the vast majority of power. Even if weddings on her own planet could out-extravagant this one easily, it was something she would likely never see again. So she sat in the pew and enjoyed the spectacle.

They were gathered in an old cathedral of Cross Castle City. It was a large space; even so, it was packed. If it had been herself, Opera wouldn’t have gotten in. But it seemed that Rena and Claude were friends of the bride, Celine. She had gotten them seats in here. Although, since she also invited her family and other dignitaries of her hometown, those seats were in the very back. Still, the space was designed in such a way that they could hear clearly even without sound equipment.

Next to Opera, Ashton was trying to keep the two dragon heads down, but one or the other would pop up over the crowd to check things out. The group had graciously let Rena sit at the aisle; she was short for her age, so she could see better there. Opera was somewhat taller than most of the planet’s natives. Not enough to be strange, but enough that she could see decently.

Up front, the cardinal of the church was giving a rather lengthy wedding address. The bride and the groom both wore white. Prince Clothier wore a fur-trimmed cloak and a gold crown. Beside him, Celine wore a long dress decorated with white roses. At the end, they exchanged vows much like those on other planets. Ideas like that carried across civilizations; Opera’s studies had been on those similarities. They swore to love each other, only each other, for the rest of their joined lives, despite anything bad that may come their way. Then the cardinal affirmed their bond in the name of Expel’s god.

The ceremony deviated some after this, but due to social position, not sociology. The King then came up to the front and had Celine swear a second oath, of loyalty and service to the country. Then, the King blessed her and gave her a crown signifying her new position as Crown Princess of Cross. Only after that did the cardinal present the couple, the heirs to the throne of Cross, to the witnesses in the cathedral.

For some reason, Opera found that the ceremony made her feel sad and lonely. Why was that? Maybe it made her miss Ernest all the more. Although she loved him (and had managed to make claim on him over her sister Opal), Ernest wasn’t an easy man to tie down. Not even his university job could keep him home. She wished she could marry her beloved.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Cross Castle ballroom

An hour after the ceremony, there was a celebration in the ballroom of Cross Castle. Ashton kept out of most of the crowd; there were too many inquisitive or suspicious looks given to him. Still, he didn’t get to eat like this much since he started living on the road. He ate a few cookies and watched the activities.

Celine was dancing with the Prince; they seemed to be happily off in their own world, barely acknowledging anyone who talked to them. They were lucky, he thought, to have married deeply in love. In his experience, most marriages happened for practical reasons and the pair just hoped to come into love in time. Like his parents. It had worked out, but it had been arranged. If they were alive, he thought sadly, they’d probably be looking for a wife for him. Not immediately, but in the near future.

Near him, Claude and Rena were talking happily with each other, and anyone who happened to come by. It was interesting watching them, Ashton thought. They were sincerely kind and people could see that. In response, people were attracted to them as good people. Maybe he had been drawn to them for the same reasons.

“Oh, why don’t you want to?” Rena teased Claude, playfully patting him.

Claude pushed his hair back and smiled sheepishly. “I don’t really know how to dance like that.”

“But you ought to be good at it. Although, I only know countryside dances myself, not these waltzes and nobility pastimes.”

“It is different,” he replied, looking over the crowd.

“It’s different from country to country as well,” Ashton commented. “You can see it in how Rozelia and the Lacour nobles don’t move the same as the Cross nobles.”

After a moment, Rena said, “You’re right about that.”

“Hey, you,” a drunk man said, looking at Ashton. “Are you a dragon? Dragons aren’t supposed to be in here.”

“I’m just possessed by dragons, that’s all,” Ashton said, trying not to blush.

 _Let’s eat him,_ Gyoro said with a low growl that came out of Ashton’s throat.

 _No, let’s not,_ he countered. _That’s gross._

The fire dragon head snorted. _How do you know, ******? You’ve never eaten a human before._

“It’s not right,” the drunk said.

“Excuse me,” a castle guard said, grabbing the drunk’s shoulder. “Let’s go home now. Sorry about him bothering you.”

“Thanks for getting rid of him,” Ashton replied.

 _He seems like he could have a good meat to fat ratio on him,_ Ururun commented. _He’d be tasty slow roasted._

 _Mmm, slow roasted human,_ Gyoro said.

Ashton rubbed his forehead. _That’s nasty! I’m not eating another human, no matter what you say!_

The ice dragon head whined. _Well can we go back to Salva Drift now? I’m homesick._

 _And the ***** lack of Energy Stone around here is awful,_ Gyoro grumbled. _It’ll weaken us eventually._

 _It also drives living creatures insane._ Ashton paused. _Which may account for you two trying to convince me into cannibalism._

_He was a******* jerk. Jerks deserved to be eaten._

_And not always as jerky. Although, jerky is good too. Mmm, jerky._

_If it’s not human jerky._

“You okay, Ashton?” Rena asked in concern. “You seem a little pale.”

“I’m fine,” he replied. “Just be glad you can’t hear these two arguing.”

_Wuss._

On hearing a pair of heels, he looked up to see Celine coming toward them. “How are you doing this evening, darlings?” she asked with a warm smile.

“Just great,” Rena said, smiling. “I’m trying to talk Claude into dancing, but neither of us really knows these court dances.”

She gave an amused laugh. “It’s not that hard; I could help if you’d like. But first, I’d like to make a request of you. Remember this?” She held out an old leather bound book that she had brought over.

Claude and Rena nodded. “Yeah, that’s the book you picked up in Cross Cave,” Claude said. “Did anyone in Mars know how to translate it?”

She shook her head. “No, they can’t read it. But one of the elders recognized the language, an older form of Laguine. He said that there’s a professor in Linga who could translate it. However, I must stay here in Cross for now. I have to learn to be a queen, you know. You’re headed to the Lacour continent, so would you mind dropping this off at Linga? I’ve written a letter explaining the situation; it’s here on the inside cover.”

“Linga’s a bit off our path,” Rena pointed out. “We’ll be going to the castle from Hilton and that town is in south Lacour.”

“I think you’ll have time,” Celine said, glancing over at the collected nobles. “King Lacour was at the wedding, but his entourage has left already. Summer is the time for the Lacour Tournament of Arms; between that and other business, I doubt you’ll be able to get an audience with him until after the tournament.”

“Oh right, there is that,” Rena said. “I’d forgotten about it. That’s too bad. But if that’s the case, then it would be no trouble to stop by Linga for a day or two.”

“We’ll take it for you,” Claude added, accepting the book from her.

She nodded. “Thank you, darlings. I know I can trust you both with this.” Then she chuckled. “So how about I teach you two to waltz?”

“Oh, well,” Claude said, scratching his head and blushing.

Rena laughed and took his arm. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll try.” He handed the book to Ashton. “Mind holding onto this for now?”

“No problem,” he replied, taking it. While they went off to the dance floor, Ashton opened the book and looked at a drawing of an island with some description. It was quickly apparent that he couldn’t make sense of it. “Do you two know this language?” he asked, curious.

Gyoro snorted. _What, you expect a pair of badass dragons to be ******* literate?_

 _No,_ Ururun added.

“Oh. Well, thought I’d ask.”

* * *

 

-chat room, 4D

_This chat room has been reserved for a non-celebration of the marriage of Prince Clothier T. Cross and Celine Jules of the planet Expel. It is a non-celebration because the player C.J. has lost all control of her character Celine in this wedding. If you wish to celebrate this marriage, please take it elsewhere._

 

C.J.: Thanks for setting this up for me.

Jeb: No problem. It’s all in support of you.

Ashe: Of course.

(Dano has entered the chat room)

Penny: It’s such a weird restriction too.

(Enlo has entered the chat room)

Ashe: And we couldn’t really call it a character wake…

Enlo: Hey, I was going to say congrats on the wedding, but what’s with the non-celebration status?

C.J.: Hi there. I’ve got a health network restriction on my account right now, apparently due to the vague reason of boredom.

Penny: Yeah, why would they restrict the activities you participate in when you’re bored in other things?

Penny: It’s just stupid.

Nancy: There’s a full topic on this boredom restriction here. Other players have been restricted as well.

Jeb: I tried to add the link to the room description, but it wouldn’t let me for some reason.

Enlo: I’d heard about that restricting of older players. So is it really true that your in-game luck goes up when this kind of restriction comes down?

C.J.: I can’t say for sure; I’m not a programming reader, after all.

Dano: She was playing a dating sim that should have taken longer, but then she got proposed to quickly.

Dano: And sorry about your character loss, C.J.

C.J.: Thanks Dano. Well there was the whole deal with Clothier’s arranged political marriage to Rozelia. But usually, romantic drama tends to make that kind of breakup right at the last minute, or at the wedding itself. This time, he told me a month before the scheduled wedding.

Ashe: And the wedding happened almost two weeks earlier than the scheduled arranged wedding.

C.J.: That and his intended bride Rozelia was happy to accept the marriage of the Prince and Celine. So it seems awful suspicious.

Enlo: Ah right, that does.

C.J.: Not only that, but my other character was thinking quite strongly of settling down herself when she finds her boyfriend.

Jeb: We suspect that the only thing that will keep the restriction from hitting that character too is because I own the boyfriend.

Nancy: I find it especially disturbing about the suggestions that they’re doing this to force a start-over for you, even for people like us who want children. I know they want to keep the population level constant, but that’s horrible.

C.J.: I know! Why can’t they just build another place like 4D? We live in a big universe too. And it would help give jobs to more people.

Penny: like mechanics, like me! I hope… (crosses fingers)

Ashe: Should we have a mourning song like a character wake? (grins jokingly, but does have his music files open)

C.J.: (chuckles) Of course you would already have music at hand. I do too actually. I’m trying to find one I think is appropriate.

Ashe: Well you get first play then.

Enlo: I see. Well sorry to hear about that happening to you. It’s got me more curious into this phenomenon.

C.J.: Well thank you Enlo. Always nice to have a sympathetic stranger drop in.

Enlo: I know. You’re welcome.

(Enlo has left the chat room)

Dano: He’s a fairly prestigious player on Expel too, but I think he plays on the Lacour continent.

C.J.: Really? At least my age earns me some respect even from those of higher prestige.

Ashe: Of course! You’ve always helped everybody, so even if your prestige isn’t as high, most everybody likes you.

C.J.: Thanks, but I know you’re my biggest fanboy.

Ashe: Does that make my support any less significant? (blushes)

C.J.: Of course not, darling. Oh, I think I’ve got a song.

* * *

 

-Enlo, 4D

Enlo leaned back in his office chair. It was posh, made of black leather. Imitation synthetic leather, of course. There was no way to get the real thing around here, even if the scientists could prove that the material was atomically identical to masterfully-crafted leather. There was also no denying that it had been synthesized. “Butler, get me some coffee, the darker version.”

“Righto, captain.” It soon gave him a mug of steaming hot black coffee.

“Thank you.” Then he looked over the security cracking progress. He could just leave his programs to run automatically. But then, there was always that sense of doubt. He had to watch as his programs got around the Eternal Sphere’s security system. The company programmers were no slackers and they worked just as hard as he did in working against them. If something changed and they could notice him, he wanted to know immediately.

Then the coding went green. He’d gotten in. Shifting around, he was able to look into the statistics that ran the character of Celine Jules. Not only that, but he could also look at the statistical history and see what changes had occurred.

He had no reason to do this. He didn’t really know the player C.J. . Sure, he knew of her reputation. She was one who was more absorbed in having fun than in having maxed out high prestige characters. Still, she offered good guidance to many of the younger players, often acting as an in-game guardian to more than just her own children and grandchildren. And there would be no direct benefit for him if he did anything to help her. No… he was just curious about this situation.

His programs kept tabs on popular discussion topics, search phrases, and help seeking. These gave him a good overview of what other players were interested in, worried about, or annoyed with. Knowing that, he could make subtle hacks, things that players would accept without question. If a hack became popular enough, the company would be obliged to keep it active when they discovered it. Obliged, although they didn’t always keep his programs. They had a harder time tracking down a poke hack than a blunt hack.

Lately, he’d been getting notices that older players were getting bullied into starting over their lives, not just their games. It was something that happened due to the need for population control. But in the past year, it seemed that the medical network had gotten into handing out game restrictions with less restraint to players above a certain age bracket. As Enlo wanted more solid proof before attempting to hack into the more sensitive medical network, he had decided to check into some of these lost characters.

And Celine Jules was a good case study, since C.J. didn’t focus on stat growth. The circumstances were hard to prove. Even the Sphere Company could not rewrite such a specific bit of history, with ‘Chris’ being the Prince of Cross, with an arranged marriage shortly due, all in order to cut off one character from one player. It was all happening on its own. Besides, this programming showed no signs of time travel editing.

Looking on the luck array, there was something suspicious. Luck was broken up into several different stats, with total being made based of several calculations which were changed based on circumstances. C.J. had been playing a dating sim… the luck stats that most contributed to that were the personal, social, and whimsical lucks. Celine’s luck numbers in those categories were noticeably high. Not only that, but the luck calculation that was active was the most forgiving of the lot, skewing her to more good luck than bad. Her other social and charismatic stats were also high.

All Enlo had to do now was review statistical history and see if there was a point where those stats made sudden jumps with no discernible reason. But that was going to take a very long time. Making a snapshot save of Celine’s current stats, he dove into the programming history.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Cross Castle City inn

Dear Eleanor:

I may be seeing you in a few days. I’ve joined a group that’s going to be investigating the Sorcery Globe, to see if we can stop the problems it’s causing in the world. I met a pair of travelers named Claude and Rena that are doing so on behalf of the Cross King. They were going to leave from Clik, but then that port got destroyed. We’ll be heading to Lacour next to see if they’ll lend us a ship to get to Eluria, which means we’ll be passing through Herlie on the way. I’ll be sure to drop by to see you.

I had a strange thing happen to me. In Mars, I heard of a demon dragon that was causing trouble in Salva Drift. Thinking I could help, I went down there to check things out. I did fight the dragon, but in a twist, it ended up possessing me. So now I’ve got a two-headed dragon that hangs onto me all the time. It’s been tough getting used to their presence and my shift in magic, but I’ve been told something good will happen if I put up with them for a year. I’ve been able to make them behave, mostly, so I think I can do that.

My fellow travelers are interesting and I think you would like them. Claude is a swordsman too, but he only uses one blade. He’s quite good at it and he’s easy to talk to. But he doesn’t talk a lot about his past; I suppose if one doesn’t wish to, we shouldn’t bother them. Rena is a nice girl and cares about everybody. She has a really unusual power of healing, which makes her a big help on adventures. And even without them, she is strong enough with magic to take care of herself.

Then there’s Opera, who’s an odd woman. She’s nice too, but there’s something very foreign about her. And it’s not even that he has three eyes. Remember how we talked about Ernest? It turns out that Opera is looking for him. It makes sense, since they must be from the same village. We all team up well, so I shouldn’t really complain.

I hope you’re feeling better, and that we have time to talk when I get to Herlie.

Sincerely,

Ashton

* * *

 

-Enlo, 4D

Well that was one analysis done, Enlo thought as he arranged the snapshots of the Celine character. There was definite proof of recent hacking done. This was the first time he had run into government sanctioned hacking, though. Or maybe not. It was dismal to think so, but the leaders of 4D might be manipulating things to keep the populace controlled and contented. Everything was computerized, after all. No one would really notice.

But if someone did… Enlo worried about how the government might react to his investigation. They could flip the situation and claim he was hacking into these characters’ data files. Which he was, but he was being careful to document dates, times, and anything else that might prove he did not tamper with the data itself. But the public deserved to know about this injustice. It went against the foundation of 4D society, for the protection of all. Not the sacrifice of some.

Thinking of taking a break, he checked on Leon. The kid was finally out from under that Incredibly Inspired effect. He’d have to stop working too, so it might be a decent time to log in.

* * *

 

-Leon, Lacour Castle, bridge

He was burnt out. There was no other way to describe it and make it sound better. After a week and a half of constant work, Leon had to take a break. Even his father couldn’t deny that.

Standing on the stone bridge that led from the city to the castle proper, Leon watched the moat water ripple. Over in the distance, a servant girl was drawing water to purify, then use in the kitchen. There were some fishermen on the other dock, hoping to catch some dinner and maybe an extra to sell. The castle moat was clean enough to do so, he reflected. He’d read of other towns where it wasn’t safe to use city waters because everyone dumped things there. Lacour had new systems for handling waste, including his father's toilet and a system that produced power from burning trash. Because of that, everyone could use the water without thinking twice. Funny, how advancements led to simple things that people took for granted.

Leon put his arms on the wall and rested his head there. It was kind of strange now. After that flurry of thoughts that had been in his mind lately, he couldn’t focus on any one thing. He couldn’t even bring himself up to casting a simple spell. He had been irritated when his mother kept asking him to take a break before. Maybe he should have.

But the product of all that activity, that could be worth it. He had a weapon design now that was very promising. Using his discovery with enclosed vacuum spells, his weapon could, with one user, produce a blast strong enough to obliterate an enemy city. Theoretically, of course. All they had were the small scale tests to go by. They’d have to convince the king soon of its potential.

That wouldn’t happen soon. In a short time, the Tournament of Arms would take place. Leon twisted his ears back in annoyance. Every year, it was such an annoyance. The whole city… no, the whole continent would be talking nonstop about the battles, the smaller scale Lacourian weapons, and all that primitive nonsense. It was already all around him, even here on the bridge.

“There’s a rumor that Dias Flac will be entering this year’s tournament,” a man said as he walked out of the castle.

“Who’s that?” his friend asked.

“A young swordsman from Cross, said to be the strongest one not in that country’s army. It’s said that he can defeat a giant with one blow.”

“Seriously? That shouldn’t be possible.”

“But Master Flac is that strong. I tell you, he’s a sure bet even if he is new.”

“That doesn’t beat experience.”

“Always the same,” Leon grumbled. “No matter who it is. I don’t see what’s so fascinating about watching people beat up each other to near death.”

He watched the water for a while longer. Water was one of the spell elements that he liked. It could take on many forms and practical uses. And when he felt bad, he usually found it good to stand and watch the water like this.

A shout from the other end of the bridge distracted him. It was followed by several cheers from a group of kids. They had stripped down for a swim in the moat. “Don’t let any fish bite your toes!” one girl called, even though she was already in the water.

“They won’t do that,” a boy insisted. “Because I’m the monstrous flesh-eating blue dolphin and I’m coming to kill you!”

The other kids shrieked merrily and swam away from him. “Blue dolphins eat fish and kelp,” Leon said, although he was too far away for them to hear. “They can’t eat human flesh.”

Despite the inaccuracy, the kids seemed to be having a lot of fun. Leon felt jealous of them. How could they have such fun being so dumb? Other lab workers would just chuckle at them and say the kids had large imaginations. That was all well and good; Leon was fairly certain that he had a good imagination. But one had to restrain it and use it within the boundaries of real world science. Otherwise, it was just wasted on stupid play.

But they were having fun.

Some of the kids had managed to swim out closer to him. One boy noticed him. “Hey, it’s that stuck-up shut-in Leon!” he shouted. “What’re you up to, stuffy?” The others laughed.

Leon clenched his fists. “More important things that you’ll ever do with your life,” he called back.

“Hey, are you a demon fae child?” another called up, to the continued amusement of the group. “You don’t look human.”

“You don’t know anything,” he insisted, then walked away from the edge. “Peasants… somebody ought to educate them just so they aren’t such dimwits.”

As he walked back in, he took the tip of his tail in his hand. He did look odd, but that was perfectly explainable. They didn’t have to go invoking such uncertainties as demons and fae in that. How could he be jealous of those dumb kids? They didn’t care to learn anything! They’d just end up wasting their lives just like their parents: getting by but not improving anything at all. On the other hand, he knew about everything important; if there was something he didn’t know, he could learn it easily or it wasn’t necessary. And Leon was going to make a big difference in the world. He was going to save all of Lacour from the demons that had destroyed Eluria. Even those dumb kids.

But then why did he still feel like crying? “Don’t be like them,” he muttered to himself, rubbing his eyes.

Leon went into the castle library. That was a good place. A room taller than it was wide, it was walled in by shelves, holding books of every subject imaginable. He considered picking up a new Water magic book to study. He seemed to think there were some he hadn’t read yet.

Instead, he found two of his researchers discussing something. “Good to see you, Master Leon,” Nicolas said. “Would you mind looking over something with us?”

“Not at all,” he said, sitting at a chair at their table. “What is it?”

“Why do we need his opinion?” the other researcher asked. “He’s a kid.”

“I’m also your boss,” Leon retorted, getting a sharp glare from him.

“He’s responsible for most of the work on the Lacour Hope,” Nicolus said, using the codename for his weapon. “We must keep him involved on every level. Anyhow, it’s about the vacuum chambers. We’ve had terrible luck trying to find a material that can withstand the energy buildup and release.”

“Right.” Leon frowned. “I suspect some of the blacksmiths are giving us junk metals though. They’re all focused on that silly tournament.”

“It’s not silly, it’s an honored tradition.”

Nicolus wisely ignored that subject, tapping the paper. “That could be, but we really need to solve this problem. But we may have been going about it the wrong way. The strongest materials may not be best. We also need to consider that this energy is purely magical in nature. Perhaps more than simple strength, we need a high resistance, especially to vacuum energy. Resistance to wind energy and heat would be advisable too.”

“I see your point. Orichalcum is good for resistance. Maybe damascus steel.”

“Energy Stone might work.”

“Raw Energy Stone can resist nearly anything,” Leon admitted. “We can’t use that, though. It would drive the user and anyone else in the area insane. Refined Energy Stone might work, though. It won’t be nearly as strong, but it could be the most resistant, strongest, and safest option.”

Perhaps a new challenge was all he needed. Leon felt his thoughts stir back to life again.

* * *

 

-Enlo, 4D

Unfortunately, this short play hadn’t been what he needed. “Tria, give me Leon’s statuses.”

“Leon is under the Incredibly Inspired status effect,” the computer promptly told him.

Enlo swore under his breath. “Again? Tria, monitor him and inform me of any mental instability.” He could fix such things before they started, but he had to catch them early.

“Will do.”


	15. A Ship Named Summer Lady

-Ashton, Herlie docks

The docks at Port Herlie were busy as usual. The old wooden structure wasn’t nearly as big as what had been in Clik, but it had a more adventurous feel. Right by the entrance to town, there were several large warehouses, bearing signs proclaiming who owned what. Over at the main dock area, Ashton could see the ship Summer Lady. It was facing west, which meant that it was probably heading out this afternoon. So they wouldn’t get much time to spend here.

On talking to the captain, they got passage provided they watched out for pirates and sea monsters, battling as needed. The ship was leaving in an hour, so they had just enough time to check their supplies. “We could use some healing herbs,” Rena said aloud, then frowned. “No, wait, I thought we were running low.” She held up a bag that had a good amount of herbs, of various types too. “Maybe I bought another bag.”

“Better to have too many than too little, right?” Opera pointed out.

“True. Wait, what’s this?” She pulled out a dainty purple charm on a silver chain necklace. “I don’t recall having something like this.”

Ashton took the pendant and checked it. “This is pretty useful, actually. It’s a Poison Check; it has an embedded crest that will prevent most poisons from taking effect. I hear it also helps when trying to work with sick animals.”

“I don’t remember buying anything like that. Is someone sneaking me things?” She looked up at the other three.

Ashton looked at the other two, but everyone seemed puzzled. “No, I don’t think so,” Claude replied.

“Strange. Well we do need some other things. Who’s coming with me?”

“I’ll go,” Ashton said. “I’m looking for someone myself; I’ll try not to take too long.”

It ended up just to two of them, while Opera and Claude checked on the ship’s defenses to know how to help. There were two main plazas to this town. The lower one was made of stone, surrounded by a large inn and many houses. The upper plaza was mostly grass and trees, on a cliff overlooking the sea. At the lower plaza, they met with a girl in pink pigtails. She spotted them immediately. “Big brother Ashton, you came!” She came over and hugged him. “Hi!”

Glad to see that she was outside, he patted her back. “Hi there, kiddo. This is Eleanor, a friend of mine. Eleanor, this is one of my new friends, Rena.”

Eleanor hopped back and shook her hand. “Hi Miss Rena! I read about you in Ashton’s letter.”

“Did you?” She smiled. “Well it’s good to meet you, Eleanor.”

_Is this the little git that we’re fused to you for?_ Gyoro asked, squinting and leaning forward.

_I think she’s precious,_ Ururun countered. _Probably soft and sweet._

_You’re not eating anyone, especially not Eleanor,_ Ashton insisted in his thoughts.

Ignorant that he was having a discussion about eating her or not, the girl asked, “Where’s your other friends?”

“I’m sorry,” Ashton said, “but we can’t stay long. The ship leaves shortly.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. But you did come see me.”

“Do you want to come shopping with us?” Rena asked. “We could talk that way, if you want.”

She grinned. “Sure, that’d be great. I can climb up to the upper plaza all by myself now, you know.”

“That’s great,” Ashton said, taking her hand as they went up the stairs. “She used to be very sick, but it seems you’re recovering quickly.”

“Better than I’ve ever been,” Eleanor said cheerfully. “Mommy says it’s a miracle.” She laughed. “And you do have dragons! So that one’s Ururun,” she pointed to the purple one, “and that one’s Gyoro?”

“Right,” Rena confirmed. “They’re cute, aren’t they?”

“Yeah!”

_Can I at least taste test her?_ Gyoro asked, leaning down to where she could touch him.

“You don’t hear their thoughts,” Ashton said dryly.

After they got their shopping done (and Rena found out that she had more money than she thought), they walked with Eleanor back to her house. “Oh, but can you wait a moment? I have something I want to give you.”

“All right,” Ashton said.

She smiled, then went inside. A short time later, she came back out with a white bag tied up with a blue string. “Here, I bought these for you. It’s my favorite candy, Rose Honey Drops. They last a really long time, but don’t bite them or you’ll break your teeth.”

“That’s good advice, thanks.” They exchanged goodbyes and then Ashton and Rena went back to the ship. It wasn’t long before they were sailing to Lacour.

* * *

 

-4D, chatroom

Jeb: How’s the adventure going?

C.J.: Slow… we’re on the ship to Lacour now.

Jeb: Ah. Well the ships are a fast method of transport. You should be at the continent within a couple of days.

C.J.: Yeah, but this is a character used to bullet trains and flying cars that break the sound barrier. Sailing ships are sloooow. (grumbles dramatically)

Jeb: (laughs)

C.J.: All well. How is Ernest doing?

Jeb: I was thinking of checking up on him. You know, make sure he hasn’t killed himself yet.

C.J.: (laughs) Oh yeah, that would kind of disappoint Opera. (sarcastic)

Jeb: He’s listed as being at Hoffman Ruins. This is going to be so hard to keep him at the entrance, away from the raw Energy Stone (cringes)

C.J.: Yeah, that wouldn’t be good.

Jeb: So how’s your luck with the doctor?

C.J.: Bad. I tried convincing him that it doesn’t help me any to have restrictions on the Eternal Sphere and that it just made me upset to lose Celine like that. He asked me if I wanted drugs and I was all, no way! (mad)

Jeb: That was rude.

C.J.: Right.

Jeb: Did you get him to explain the logic behind the restrictions?

C.J.: Not very well. He says it’s because I should be focusing on my life in 4D. I even asked him if that is so, why are they encouraging kids who don’t get selected for lifetime careers to take those jobs in the Eternal Sphere instead? Sheesh.

C.J.: Has Penny heard anything yet, by the way?

Jeb: Not yet. There’s a science fair coming up, so she’s going to modify the robotic dog kit we got as an entry. If she places at that, it would look good to the mechanics.

C.J.: Right. Well I hope she has better luck than me.

* * *

 

-Ernest, Hoffman Ruins interior

It was a step pyramid, with the entrance on the upper third of the structure. It was obviously a place of importance. Earlier, Ernest had glanced over the remains outside. That had once been a village of wood and earthen brick. Much of it was gone now. But this pyramid was built to last. From the look of things, the continental governments took care of its upkeep these days. Talk among his helpers suggested that there was a dispute over who owned this island, but neither side wanted to start a war over it. Overall, this planet was pretty peaceful.

If he had his university students and workers, he’d have them outside examining the town ruins, with a few select in here to check out the interior. They’d all be taking highly detailed notes, leaving as much as possible in place. Unfortunately, this world was not yet deeply interested in its ancient past. The workers with him were more interested in fighting monsters, finding treasure, and maybe mining some of this mysterious Energy Stone they spoke about. Such a pity.

There was someone else who seemed interested, at least partly, in such things. It was a guy with wild green hair who wielded the unlikely weapon of a giant tuning fork. From watching him fight on the way here, he used it to amplify his magic. Ruprecht was looking over some hieroglyphs on the wall. “Isn’t it interesting that it’s all small rooms here? For such an important looking structure, there aren’t many grand rooms.”

“It may have been used by a secret society or the like, for initiating and teaching members,” Ernest replied. He looked over the door to the room they were in; possibly, it was an advanced technology, being silent and automatically sliding aside. “Possibly a prison if these doors can be locked down.”

“These rooms don’t matter,” one of the other explorers said. “What we want is below, in the mines.”

Ernest turned towards him. “Ah yes, those mines. I didn’t see any stairs.”

He pointed to an apparent dead end. “There’s a strange door here that leads to a lift. It’s not much larger than the rooms here, but if you flip the switch, it will change where the door leads.”

An elevator? He and Ruprecht followed him and another adventurer to the lift. Behind an odd triangular jutting column, there was indeed a hidden elevator. It brought them down to the underground mine.

“The main deposit is along the southern path,” one pointed out. “Stick to the ways heading directly ahead, as there’s lots of offshoots and dead ends. You can reach it by other paths, but the south one is the fastest.”

Ernest looked around the area. While the metal flooring underneath his feet seemed possibly advanced, the rocky mine ahead was not. A rough wooden bridge passed over a stream. A proper archaeological study would take months. However, this wasn’t proper. “All right, let’s go check it out.”

* * *

 

-???, Hoffman Ruins

Ruprecht whistled idly as he walked along with the three na… two natives. The third one there was definitely not from this planet either. However, he didn’t reveal himself or his knowledge to the Tetragenes. He had observed them for a long time. They were no slouches, even if they’d never come up to his level.

“What’s that song you’re whistling?” one of the natives asked him.

“Nothing in particular,” he said. The original song wasn’t of this planet either, although there was a decent chance there was a similar melody about.

For a little while, he considered why he was here. In some respects, it was annoying. He had to hold back while keeping a step ahead of the natives, like Ernest was doing. He wasn’t using any magic, although he claimed that the sonic attack from his tine was a spell. And even though he was to check on a needed material here, he wasn’t to bring any back. All he was doing was making sure it was there and that the natives could harvest it. At least, natives who weren’t the greedy bumbling adventurers with him.

But then it was all a game, wasn’t it? A smile came to Ruprecht’s face. Sure, they could annihilate the planet’s inhabitants right now. They could have when they landed almost six months ago. Some of the others were annoyed because they weren’t, particularly Marsello. As for himself, he liked the game. They were giving the natives hope that they could win when their situation was, unknown to them, utterly hopeless. It was fascinating and entertaining, watching them struggle. Of course, it would be more entertaining if there were actually competent foes on this planet.

That was incredibly unlikely.

“And how are you beating more monsters than us just using a whip?” one of the natives complained.

Ernest laughed in a lighthearted manner. “It takes skill and strength.”

That and some technological assistance, Ruprecht thought. It wasn’t just a whip; a device embedded in handle added more energy and force to the whip. From the looks of it, Ernest was using plant-based heraldry to enhance his weapon.

None of other three had protection from the unprocessed mineral which they called, unimaginatively, Energy Stone. The natives showed signs of having touched it before; they were eager to get back to the source. As for Ernest, he was more interested in looking around. Would it affect him the same as the rest? According to his calculations, Ruprecht felt certain that it would. It would be interesting to see how. He, of course, was protected.

It was such fun to see them trying.

* * *

 

-Ashton, crossing the Otal Ocean

The ocean was quiet today, with only small waves lapping the ship’s sides. A couple of blue dolphins were swimming alongside them, whistling and playfully jumping around. On board, the crew was glad, joking and singing while doing their work. Ashton stood by the railing, looking to the north. When he looked east, he could see Hilton, the main port of Lacour. But he was thinking about Eluria.

They’d have to go there eventually. Also eventually, he’d have to tell Claude, Rena, and Opera about his homeland. He knew that they knew he was from Eluria. They were nice enough to not question him too much about it. But no matter how much pain those memories had, he had to share them. If only to warn them of what dangers were ahead.

Every now and then, his thoughts were interrupted by the dragons. Gyoro and Ururun didn’t seem affected by the ship, but they were complaining about everything. _This ship is so ***** slow. We could have outraced the thing._

_You’d go in the water?_ Ururun pointed out.

_No! Frickin’ frackin’…_

“What’s gotten into you two?” Ashton asked quietly. “I feel lousy and I know it’s because of you two.”

_No duh, circus freak._

Ururun made a whining sound. _We want to go back to Salva. We haven’t eaten the Energy Stone in so long and it’s making us weak and sick._

He looked to the ice dragon. “You two ate Energy Stone?”

_Ever since we were a little dragon,_ Gyoro said. _We didn’t have two heads back then. Why do you think that mine keeps producing so many gemstones even though it doesn’t grow much?_

“Really?” Then he realized what that meant and made a face. “Wait, that’s it? That’s kind of gross.”

_Alchemists can make diamonds from regular old **** stones and some dirt. Why’s that surprising?_ He did seem amused, though not enough to improve Gyoro’s mood much.

“Energy Stones are bad for living creatures,” Ashton pointed out. “It drives humans insane and turns animals into demon-like beings. Were you born a demon dragon, or just developed into one?”

_How should we ******* know?_

_I think we were a normal dragon once,_ Ururun said. _Bah, I’m miserable. Let’s change the subject. This conversation is now about barrels._

“Barrels?” he asked, puzzled.

_Oh ****_ , Gyoro groaned, dropping his head down.

_I thought you liked barrels too,_ Ururun replied, sounding hurt.

_I do, but I’m not obsessed with them like you are._

“What’s so interesting about barrels? I mean… they’re just barrels.”

_They are incredible because they are barrels! Let me explain…_

Gyoro nudged Ashton's head. _You asked for it._

Ururun had perked up, enough that others could tell he was happy from the way his head bopped around. _Lots of dragons love treasure above all else, but I love barrels above all else. See, treasure is just glittery rare stuff that people always want to steal from you. You know what a treasure is just by looking at it. But barrels are different. When you look at a barrel, you don’t know what treasure is inside it. It could be wine, or gold, or flour, or diamonds, or dirt, or bones, or meat, or anything imaginable! It could even be empty, but that’s okay, because the great thing is the possibility and the anticipation of not knowing._

“Like a present?” Ashton asked. “But they’re always opened eventually, like barrels.”

_Yes, but then you can close it back up again and the mystery starts all over again! You can’t do that with a present._

“It’ll just have whatever it had when you closed it. That’s not a mystery.”

_It is when you have a five minute memory,_ Gyoro stated.

_Oh shut up!_ Ururun nipped at its twin’s head, causing Gyoro to fight back.

“Hey, cut it out,” Ashton said, bringing his hand up to motion them apart. He wasn’t too sure about getting his hand close to them like this, but something had to be done. “Do you two always have to fight like this?”

_Yes, always._

“But aren’t you the same dragon?” he pointed out.

_Not necessarily,_ Ururun said. _We’ve fought each other more than anybody else. But that’s depressing. On the other hand, barrels are sexy._

“I’d protest that, but it’d probably be useless, huh?”

Gyoro snorted. _You encouraged him._

_But just think about the beautiful shape a barrel is,_ Ururun went on. _And a barrel with a fine wood grain pattern is simply gorgeous. I love them all! We’ve hoarded lots of barrels over the years, haven’t we?_

_They’re handy for putting treasure in,_ Gyoro admitted.

_They are treasures themselves!_

“Hey Ashton!” Rena came up to him. “We’re just about to Hilton. Isn’t this exciting?” She grinned, obviously eager to see a land other than the one she was born on.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Hilton is a nice port. I liked Clik better, though. Too bad it got destroyed.”

“So what are you doing here by yourself?”

Ururun was still bopping around, while Gyoro had dropped down to curl up on Ashton’s shoulder. “I’ve got these guys. We were having a… oh, I dunno the right word… interesting conversation about barrels.”

“Barrels?” Rena asked with a half-laugh.

He turned around so he was facing her. “Dragons are odder creatures that I thought.”

* * *

 

-Penny, 4D

Pieces of robotic dog were scattered across the floor of Penny’s room. Sitting cross-legged nearby, she examined the diagrams, manual, and other booklets that came with their new pet. “Hmm, I may need to ask Mom and Dad to get me some more tools,” she murmured to herself. “But then I might be able to make it do that… yeah, if this works like that…” she frowned, tapping her pencil against her cheek. “Okay, put it together as instructed first, so I can see how they want it to work… then I can redo it to how I want.”

There was a beep as the family’s butler came into her room. “Penny, you need to fulfill your studying quota for today. This does not count.”

Giving an exaggerated sigh, she put the diagram booklet down. “All right. Don’t clean up my room for now, cause I’m working on this project.”

“I’ll need your mother’s approval,” the robot replied before speaking electronically to a monitor in her room. The large screen turned on, displaying a list of articles. “According to your schedule, writing a report on one of these historical lessons should be a suitable homework assignment.”

“I’ll get to it.”

After the robot left, she got up and went to the chair by the screen. Penny opened up a drawer, then pulled out a floating input pad. She did prefer these days of self-study as opposed to the classroom’s assignments. Sometimes they seemed to go over stuff so slowly, when she was ready to move on to a new subject. So what should be today’s lesson?

One article got her attention more than the others: ‘Early History of the Eternal Sphere- The Nedian Problem’. According to the description, it was about some of the first hackers of immersion gaming history and the development of the legal system to deal with such people in an internet-based society such as theirs. She didn’t like hackers, but it would be interesting to know about these early ones. She selected that as her assignment.

 

_Article ESC-01125-JS4211_

_Early History of the Eternal Sphere: The Nedian Problem_

_In the first release of SC’s Eternal Sphere game, there were ten races to choose from on a single server, the Milky Way Galaxy. These races followed classic builds of MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games), such as the Mighty Glacier, Fragile Speedster, Glass Cannon, and so on. Efforts were taken during beta-testing, and indeed the whole programming process, to make sure that the ten planets and races were all in fair balance._

_However, gamers have always proved resourceful in finding practical flaws and hidden exploits to create unbalanced game-breaking characters. The Eternal Sphere turned out to be a hard nut for them to crack, as it took four months for abuses to start showing up. Even then, the real-time nature of the game made it easier to spot hacked characters, as growth was purposely made gradual and realistic._

_The first hacker to make complete changes to how the game was played was known by the handle Lucifel. Lucifel was clever and did not make blatant hacks that would be spotted by the alert SC security programs. Instead, he hacked into the race and character data, finding the algorithms and numbers that made everything work. By testing the limits and calculations, he made a discovery about the max potential for ES characters. For instance, the Golian race, known for its massive power and health, was discovered to have the weakest max potential damage output in a battle, even though they started as the strongest race at the beginning of character creation._

_More importantly, he discovered a flaw in the calculations for the magical race of the planet Nede. The Nedians were not the high end of magic using races on initial specs; the Mabliens were instead. But in this flawed calculation for magic processing, Lucifel discovered that the Nedians could easily bypass the stat caps for their race. The Nedians and the Mabliens both were allowed the character creation trait Mana DNA Imprint to put symbols of heraldry in their genetic coding, thus making them much more powerful mages than other races. However, Mabliens had a firm statistic cap, putting a limit on how much damage their spells could produce. Through a process of specialized training with the Mana DNA Imprint trait, Nedian mages could overcome their statistic cap and potentially have limitless magical power at their disposal. Lucifel had discovered how to make a Nede character into a complete game-breaker._

_The process still took a large amount of time, so the SC did not catch on as Lucifel began to tell others of his discovery. This led to a surge of Nedian players who all picked the Mana DNA Imprint trait. Thinking it was a natural shift of the system, SC allowed for the trait to become automatic for both Nedian and Mablien characters. While Mablie remained at steady player numbers, Nede gained even more players. This led the planet of Nede to dominate the Milky Way server and become rulers of the galaxy._

_The Sphere Company took note and adjusted their plans accordingly. They attempted to make other races more attractive, with new powers and technologies, as well as status of being galactic underdogs. However, none of that outweighed the attraction of the potential for limitless magical power and many players stuck with Nedian characters. Thus, the SC came up with a contest to design non-player characters for a story arc involving a planetary uprising against the might of Nede._

_While many players took on the challenge to create other races without normal limitations, the hacker Lucifel had other plans. Having studied the Nedians for so long, he began design work on…_

 

Penny’s study was strangely interrupted by a red alert box popping up in the middle of the video article. ‘House network is contacting the medical network to report an emergency with Jeb. Please put any network activities on hold so there is clear and efficient communication. This situation is serious.’

“What?” she asked softly, starting to shake. Wasn’t their technology supposed to stop medical emergencies from happening at all? She got up and ran out of her room. “Mom! What’s happening with Dad?”

* * *

 

-Ernest, deep Hoffmon Mines

“You look bored,” Ernest said, looking to Ruprecht.

The strange man grinned, holding his tine weapon over his shoulder. “Do I? I might be. You know, all this monster slaying and following the path can get tedious after long enough. I would have been happy to stay at the entrance and study the building remains more. It’s too bad looters got everything that was up there.”

Smiling back, Ernest felt glad he’d run into this fellow. He wasn’t quite an archaeologist, but he was likely the closest he’d find on this planet. “Actually, I would’ve liked to do that myself. You can learn interesting things by observing such places and thinking about how they may have worked when in use.”

“Maybe. Most people aren’t interested in that, though.”

“Hey, the vein of Energy Stone is in the next room,” one of the others called to them. “There’s usually some tough monsters in there, so keep alert.”

“Right,” Ernest called back.

However, he felt oddly nervous. This wasn’t his usual caution in entering a dangerous area. No, this was like an internal warning that something incredibly dangerous was up ahead and he’d best stay away from it. And truth be told, he didn’t know much about this strange mineral, just that it was highly valued on this planet. It could be that dangerous.

“What’s wrong?” Ruprecht asked him.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I feel uneasy about something.”

“I wouldn’t worry. This place is traveled through often, and they know what we’re getting into.”

“I’ve heard that.” Since his new friend didn't seem worried, he put aside the warning and went with the rest.

After a short tunnel, they came into a large cavern with a high ceiling. Ernest had expected, for such a desired mineral, that the veins would be in the walls and hard for a stranger like him to see. Instead, the Energy Stone was right there in massive open piles, a solid mass of glowing pearl green stone. His skin tingled as he felt that this stuff as very special indeed. Very special…

There came an almost-human yelp as a pair of dark violet apes emerged from behind the piles of Energy Stone. Hostile to the invaders, one caused a mana pyramid to form around it. Ernest normally tried to work around such animals until they accepted his presence. Not this time. He felt equally incited and attacked back along with the other explorers. Feeling the start of an electrical bolt, Ernest dodged one of many bolts of lightning that fired around the room, emitting from the one ape. His whip grew thorns as he lashed out against them.

Between the four of them, the explorers defeated the mage apes. Then a voice seemed to come from the mineral itself. “Which one of you is strong enough to make claim to the mine?”

Ernest looked at the other three, who turned their weapons at each other. Something strange seemed to come over him, dissolving any inhibitions that kept him in check. Reaching into a coat pocket, he felt the cool curves of his demolition gun. He was supposed to only use it when alone. That didn’t seem to matter anymore, as a smirk came to his face. “Would you fools try to defeat me?”

* * *

 

-Jeb, 4D

_Planet-Tetragenes (home), Expel (current)_

_Character- Ernest Raviende_

_Style- adventure/archaeological research_

_Quest status- Exploring Expel: Hoffman Ruins_

_**Alert** _ _\- This character has fallen under demonic possession. You are not allowed to log back in as Ernest until the possession is cleared. This is for your own safety._

Jeb tried to read the data in front of him, but it was all blurry. He had a burning headache which seemed to disconnect him from the rest of his body. When the immersion chair released him, the lights of the room caused his eyes to ache. The lights automatically dimmed in an attempt to help him.

“Dad, what happened?” Penny asked. She and Nancy were by him. “We got an alert that something happened to you.”

“Hush, dear,” Nancy said, quieting their daughter. She took Jeb’s hand as he closed his eyes. “Stay there for now. The doctor should arrive soon.”

“Okay,” Jeb replied, leaning back into his chair. It was a known danger of immersion gaming that severe damage, death, or a possession like this could have adverse effects on the player. Supposedly, they had removed the worst dangers. This was still bad

The headache pulsed, spreading pain through his body. Jeb wasn’t able to pay much attention after that, but he heard the doctor asking for strong painkillers from the house computer. Then he was asleep before he realized it.

* * *

 

-C.J., chatroom

Nancy: Something bad happened to Jeb during his last play session. Ernest got exposed to raw Energy Stone and he got possessed by it.

C.J.: How awful! Is he doing well?

Nancy: Well he’s asleep, so he’s not in pain anymore. But I thought you should know.

Nancy: Since Ernest is possessed, Jeb can’t log back into that profile until the possession is lifted. Unfortunately, this goes against your plan to keep Opera unattached as long as possible.

C.J.: Oh yeah, and since she’s looking for him… this isn’t going to end well for me.

Nancy: We’ll do what we can to convince your doctor to lift those restrictions. Just let us know when you need us.

C.J.: Thanks Nancy. You’re all good friends.

Nancy: If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to watching after Jeb. Talk to you later.

C.J.: Right, later. I hope he recovers quickly.

(Nancy has left the chatroom)

(Enlo has entered the chatroom)

Enlo: Hey C.J., may we talk?

C.J.: Hm? Who’re you?

Enlo: I spoke with you at that anti-celebration for a bit.

C.J.: Oh right. What is it?

Enlo: I’ve been doing some research on your Celine character. There are some things in her character data that are suspicious, stats that are abnormally high.

C.J.: I’m not a hacker. Or wait, are you a hacker? Or one of the Sphere employees?

Enlo: Oh please, hacker is such a dirty term. I like to think of myself as a Robin Hood character, skirting the law for the good of the common people.

C.J.: So you’re a hacker.

Enlo: If you must insist on that term, yes. But I am here to help you, m’lady. (bows like a gentleman)

C.J.: Isn’t that a little dangerous to just announce into a chatroom?

Enlo: Not if you know what you’re doing. Would you accept my help? You’ll be under my wing and protection, so don’t worry about the law.

C.J.: I don’t know about that. I play fairly.

Enlo: That’s fine. Well I’ll tell you of what I’ve found. Your restriction came down 3409.003.009.13.39. As of the time 13.42, Celine’s social luck stats were all boosted by 300% and the random event calculator set to the most forgiving and blessed algorithm.

C.J.: Which means what?

Enlo: Celine had max luck stats and a luck ‘blessing’, so to speak, in all stats used in a social dating sim. With that kind of charisma, you could easily have multiple cases of love at first sight and superfast courting to marriage. The origin of this appears to be the medical network’s restriction program.

C.J.: So you have proof that they’re forcing me out of the game?

Enlo: Almost. There’s still some holes slippery lawyers can get through. Is there anything that happened around that time that might account for that luck boost?

C.J.: I don’t think so.

C.J.: Oh, there was that book she picked up in Cross Cave. She gave that to Rena and Claude to handle. And Chris (the Prince) picked up a pair of silver rings that don’t seem to do anything. He has one, while Princess Rozelia took the other.

Enlo: I doubt that book did anything, but I’ll check it out more carefully. The rings could have influenced some; did Celine ever wear one of them?

C.J.: Not to my recollection.

C.J.: You may want to look into my other character Opera, and another Tetragenes called Ernest.

Enlo: I was going to look into her shortly. What about him?

C.J.: Opera has an unrequited love for Ernest, but that has been starting to shift. They’ve been separated for a while now.

C.J.: However, Ernest’s player Jeb just went in to check on him and Ernest got possessed by raw Energy Stone (an Expel mineral).

Enlo: I know what that is. So he lost control of that character, which could affect what Opera does.

C.J.: Right. I’m sure if something were to happen to him, Opera would get depressed, which would pass to me, which would cause the medical network to insist on restarting me.

Enlo: Hmm.

C.J.: (laughs nervously) But I’m starting to sound like a conspiracy theorist, aren’t I? Normally I’m not like this, but it’s just been stressful.

C.J.: (whispers ) Don’t let my butler know about that.

Enlo: I think I understand.

Enlo: I’ll keep looking into your case, but understand this: the medical network operates in a different manner than the Eternal Sphere network, and other places I’ve gotten into. It’ll be a challenge to me, but if I can manage, I’ll see if I can’t tweak that restriction from the inside. I can’t remove it directly without raising suspicions, but I might con them into lifting it themselves.

C.J.: I see. Well thanks for your help.

Enlo: I’ll keep you informed as I go along. Keep your spirits up, C.J..


	16. Grand City Lacour

-Ashe, 4D

_Hey Ashe! It’s me, the bunny babe Bonita! I haven’t seen you at any parties lately. Are you gonna come around anymore? There’s going to be quite a thriller at the Haunt of the Night Bar! Anyhow, I was wondering about you, but my butler says we're not compatible to be married. All well, I wasn’t ready for that anyhow. I hope you’ll still be friends with me nevertheless!_

 

Ashe looked at the email in puzzlement. “She asked if we were compatible in marriage?”

“You could look into that,” his own butler said. “But you’re too young to worry about that.”

For some reason, that struck Ashe as odd. “I’ve graduated from university and can live on my own now.”

“You’ve got plenty of life to explore, no need to rush things.”

“I wasn’t being serious about that, but that’s true.”

That was his last email to check and an offer he wasn't really interested in, so Ashe switched to game mode and logged into the Eternal Sphere. Ashton’s life was certainly more exciting, he considered. But Ashe’s was safer.

* * *

 

-Opera, Lacour entrance

Cross Castle had been a quaint place in Opera’s view. Fairy tale like even. Lacour, though, this was a city through and through. There were fewer green areas and things were more orderly. There were more people busily moving their culture towards consumerism and a free market society. Not quite there. Things like a statue of the current king and the buildings of nobles showed that they still had a revolution in the way before the next stage of planetary development.

But would it be violent or intellectual revolution? Opera considered making a cultural study with a sociology professor to make a theory and observe for proof. It wasn’t easy to do such without influencing the culture, but it could be done.

Rena interrupted her thoughts with a delighted, “Wow, Lacour is really impressive! This place is so huge; I didn’t think a city could be this large, with so many people.”

“You sound like you’ve never been out of the countryside,” Claude said, amused by her excitement.

She laughed. “Is there anything wrong with that?” she teased.

“Oh, no, of course not,” he replied.

“Lacour is always an exciting place to visit,” Ashton said, sounding like he knew the place. “There’s a lot of impressive buildings here. But you should keep a close eye on your purse; there’s quite a few pickpockets in the crowds.”

“Sure thing,” she said, clasping the top of her blue purse. “Should we check out the castle just in case we can get an early audience with the king?”

“It’s worth a try,” Claude said.

As they went in, Opera slipped over to her fellow alien. “On my homeworld,” she whispered, “this place would fit in a single building and everything else would dwarf it.”

He laughed at that, causing some questioning looks from the two natives. But that was quickly lost in the exploration of Lacour Castle City. It was a larger place than any other she had seen on this planet, as well as extremely dense. If all these people lived here, the housing area of this city would be jam packed.

Ashton remembered the way to the castle, so he led them down a wandering lane that came to a long white stone bridge. Strange gargoyle statues sat on the bridge posts, to which the swordsman said they were just statues. Under the bridge, there was a large moat surrounding the central castle. Despite being within a city, the water did not smell and looked surprisingly clean. Maybe they were advanced in environmental concerns.

After crossing a drawbridge, they were within the castle itself. Opera could see easily that this country was more militaristic than Cross. Where the latter displayed vases and angel statues, Lacour’s castle displayed suits of armor and many different flags. In the entryway, there was a pair of young men checking on people who were entering.

In fact, they were offering tours. “You’ll want to take one now, before the majority of the crowds come to Lacour,” one of them said. Maybe they were further from absolute royal rule, Opera thought. Castle tours hinted at figurehead or poor royals. She’d have to make some more observations.

“No thanks, that’s okay,” Rena said. “Would we be able to schedule an audience with the King? We’re looking for passage to Eluria, being on an investigation sponsored by the King of Cross.”

The two receptionists glanced at each other. “Really?” one asked, puzzled.

“Yes,” Claude said, pulling out the letter from the Cross royalty.

After looking over the seal, one said, “It is authentic. As much as we would like to help you, I’m afraid that the King is busy with the Tournament of Arms and our conflict with the Elurian invaders. We couldn’t schedule you any sooner than a month.”

“A month?” Rena asked. “We don’t want to waste that much time. The Elurian invaders have gone as far as attacking the port of Clik.”

“We heard about that. Sorry. We can put you in the appointment book so that you don’t get delayed by anything else, but there’s not much more to speed things along.”

“Actually, there might be another way,” the other receptionist offered. “If you were to do well in the Tournament, the King would want to meet with you directly after that. It’s still two weeks away, but it wouldn’t be that long.”

“Tournament, huh?” Opera asked. “What’s the requirements for that?”

“Participants must be male,” the receptionist stated, clearly countering her interest, “in good health, and at least eighteen years old. Other than that, so long as you have confidence in your skills, anyone can register.”

She smirked. “Anyone, huh?” As much as she didn’t like that sexism, there wasn’t much she could do without landing herself in trouble.

On the other hand, Claude looked thoughtful. “If that’s the case, then I’d like to register.”

Rena looked immediately concerned. “Claude?”

“It’s okay,” he said. “We need to get to Eluria, but if we’re going to be delayed anyhow, I might as well try.”

“Sure enough,” the tournament receptionist said, pulling out a book. “I need your name, age, and hometown.”

“I’m Claude Kenni, nineteen years old,” he said. Then he stopped at naming a hometown.

“He’s from Arlia Village,” Rena covered for him.

He gave her a small thankful smile. “Yeah, Arlia in Cross.”

“Okay then. Which bracket are you entering? It’s based of preferred weaponry.” He passed over a similar book with the page opened to a list of all the brackets.

“You might want to take the Swordsmanship bracket,” Ashton offered, pointing one out. “It fits best and honestly, it’s the one that gets the most attention every year.”

“Hmm…” Claude glanced at the other categories, but it was apparent to Opera that he didn't know what exactly was in that book. But he nodded like he did. “Yes, the Swordsmanship bracket. What about you?”

“Well I don’t think the dragons are allowed in most brackets,” Ashton replied, glancing at Ururun. Gyoro gave a gruff grunt. “I’ll think about it.”

The receptionist was busy filling in a few lines for Claude. “Okay, that just about does it. One final thing. This is a full battle tournament, so there is a great risk for serious injury, broken bones, dismemberment, other grave injuries, and even death. You must acknowledge this risk by signing your name in this registration book and your Tournament pass. We will have the best doctors on hand, but we also have the best warriors in the tournament. If you accept this risk, sign here.” He turned the registration book around and handed Claude his pen.

For a moment, he looked nervous. Any tournament like this that the Federation held would not have such a high risk. But this was an underdeveloped planet. Still, he signed his name. “It’s a risk of any battle,” he said.

In the meantime, the receptionist brought out a sturdier piece of paper and wrote on that. He exchanged the book for the paper. “All right then, ah,” he looked at the signature and was clearly confused. Claude grimaced and fiddled with his hair. But although the signature would be in a language from another planet, the receptionist kept calm, “...Okay, Mr. Kenni. This is your Tournament Pass. You need to find a weapons store to sponsor you now to provide all the equipment for the tournament battles; the owner will sign here and make your registration official. Good luck.”

He nodded as he took the pass. “Thanks.” The group of them moved a few paces into the castle to talk.

“Well this should be interesting,” Opera said.

Claude smiled. “Sure. Only, I’m not sure how the weapons of this… this country are.” He brushed his hair back, having caught his slip in time.

“You must be from a very secluded society if you don’t know about Lacourian weapons,” Ashton replied, showing some surprise. “This country has the reputation as having the best smiths in the world. Of course, they couldn’t do all that some Elurian smiths could do, but these people were always better with weapons. I can help if you’re not sure.”

“That would be a big help, thanks.”

“So we have two weeks, huh?” Opera said. “We could find you a store, then head by Linga to see about that book Celine had. We can make that, right?”

“As long as we can get some horses, sure,” Ashton said. He glanced around the castle lobby. “But um… can I meet with you later about the sponsors? I want to look into something here.”

“Sure thing,” Claude said. Then he looked to Rena, who seemed to be absorbed in her own thoughts. “Are you okay with this? You’re being quiet.”

“Oh, well,” she clasped her pendant. “I was just thinking… Dias is certainly going to be here. He’d take the Swordsmanship bracket too. And, well…”

“That’s good to hear,” Claude said. “I’d like to see him in battle.”

“But what if you end up fighting against him? I don’t think I’d like that.”

“We might,” he admitted. “It is a risk, but if we can meet up with the King sooner, it would be worth it.”

While Ashton took off for somewhere, Rena and Claude decided to look around the castle together. Opera, on the other hand, asked a maid some questions and found a library. It was a small but very tall room, with every wall filled with books. Various people were inside: tourists, guards, people in lab coats, and library workers. Opera went to the front desk. “Excuse me, but may I get a reference on the Hoffman Ruins?”

“There’s a number of texts available,” she answered. “I can get you one that I find most helpful, if you’d like.”

“Yes please, thank you.”

“Just a moment.” She left the desk to go adjust one of the rolling ladders before climbing up.

That was one thing she always had to get used to when she went to underdeveloped planets. Everything took so much more time. Were such things more valuable that way? Sometimes she wondered. Like her jewelry; Opera could get anything she wanted cheaply and easily back home, but to find a matching style on a planet like this, it could cost a small fortune and take weeks. But then these people were less apt to throw such things away.

There was an open file on the desk. Curious, she glanced at it. The word Eluria caught her attention. Wasn’t that where her new friends were going? Standard Federation translators couldn’t translate written works, but Opera didn’t have a standard translator. She read the text with the contact lens showing her native language instead. As long as those around her knew the written language, the lens translator worked. Because of that, even with this technological advantage, that ancient book was a mystery to her too.

‘Of the investigating teams sent to Eluria, nearly all of them have vanished. Those who have returned were unable to get far into enemy territory before being forced to come back home. Adding to such troubles, there is no available information on the site of Eluria Castle Town itself, where the Sorcery Globe fell. The effectiveness of regular weapons against the Elurian invaders is questionable at best. Research into more powerful Heraldic weapons is on-going.’

Something told her that she probably wasn’t supposed to see that. Opera glanced around, then closed the file. Just from that fragment, things seemed more dire. What was going on with this planet? They had alien or demonic invaders, they possibly weren’t technologically capable of defending themselves, and there was a stray astral energy body nearby doing absolutely nothing. Rubbing her forehead, she quietly cursed Ernest’s impeccable timing with investigating Expel.

A clatter of wood told her that the library receptionist had come back. “Here you are, m’am. This book has a tracking crest in it, so you may borrow it for two weeks if you would like longer to research. It will return here automatically after that time.”

“Sounds like a good deal,” she replied. “What do I have to do to activate this crest?”

She brought out another book. “Sign here, please, and I will do so.”

Looking it over, she found it to be a standard library agreement. Destruction of the book would require payment for it (much steeper than her homeworld fees), repeated late recalls might restrict her ability to borrow any more materials, do not lend out a borrowed book… Opera signed the line, then waited as the librarian murmured something while tracing the crest. It flashed green, then faded. After thanking the woman, she left before getting questions on her signature being in the Tetragenian alphabet rather than what was in use on Expel.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Lacour Castle armory

It was a good thing this wasn’t his first time in this castle, Ashton thought. There were two different basements. One led to a laboratory area which was restricted access. The other was a storage area, including one of two armories. Although it was open for tours, there were a number of guards there.

After looking around for a while, Ashton spotted what he’d been looking for. One of the few things not of Lacourian origin, it was an armored coat of black lined with gold, much like the one he wore. That was the preferred armor of the Elurian heraldic knights. It came with metal leg guards and sturdy boots, strong but not as heavy as Lacourian or even Cross armor. Nearby, there was a heraldic brace made of obsidian and pearls. It was made for the two sword style of heraldic dueling. The set even included the swords.

Ashton looked over the swords with some sadness. They were of Elurian make too, and very fine weapons. The twinned blades were called Slicer and both still appeared to be keen and sharp. As to why the Lacourians had this set of an Elurian knight, it had been a deal made at last year’s tournament. His kingdom had traded this set for a heraldic dueling set the Lacourians were developing. They were supposed to have returned this equipment. But then the Sorcery Globe had struck.

“You interested in Elurian armors?” a guard near him asked spontaneously.

“Oh, yes, of course,” Ashton said. “I’m from Eluria.” He considered showing his heraldic tattoos, but then recalled that they belonged to the dragons, not the knights. Instead, he pulled a medal out of his pocket. “This set belonged to my father, Russell Anchors.”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Really, the winner of last year’s heraldry weapons bracket? I didn’t recognize you as his son, sir, not with the dragons.”

Gyoro hissed while Ururun gave the guard a warning snap. Ashton put his hand on Ururun’s neck, warning him to stay back. “Uh, that’s a recent development. Yeah, we were here last year.”

Smiling, the guard said, “It was an amazing run; Sir Russell trashed everyone we sent at him. Although, I suppose things are different this year.”

“Yeah,” Ashton said, looking down. A lump seemed to form in his throat, although he tried to avoid showing any signs of that. “Weren’t you supposed to return this equipment?”

“Yes, I’d heard that once the scientists were done studying your techniques in the construction of it, it was going to be sent back. But we can’t return it to your kingdom now.”

“That’s true.”

The guard rubbed his chin. “Although, you know… we might be able to work out a deal here. Are you entering the Tournament of Arms?”

“I considered it,” he said. “But it wouldn’t do me much good because I’m not used to the Lacourian armor for heraldic duelers.”

The guard patted the metal on his chest. “I’m in charge of the royal armory this year. I can arrange for you to use this armor in the tournament; royal sponsorship would be approved since you’re a knight. Then you can keep it after the tournament. It doesn’t do much good for our duelers either, since the styles are different.”

“Is that okay?” he asked. “I’m not a knight of your country.”

“But you are a knight,” the armory head said, pointing to Ashton’s metal. “And I’m sure no one will fuss much against a representative of the true Eluria.”

He looked back at his father’s armor and weapons. “Okay, I can agree with that. Thank you.”

“No trouble. This ought to be good, if you’re like your father. Let’s go upstairs.”

Except his father wouldn’t have run away from the kingdom, Ashton thought gloomily. But he kept that to himself _and us_ , yes, and them. He glanced at Gyoro, but although the fire dragon winked, he didn’t taunt him. What were they up to?

With the armory head signing off on the sponsor’s line, Ashton signed up for the Heraldry Weapons bracket. In that set, the two dragons wouldn’t disqualify him. He smiled to Claude, Rena, and Opera as they came back to the entrance from wherever they had been. Then he had to sign the pass and the registration book himself.

“Okay Sir Anchors,” the receptionist said, grinning. “We hope to see a good show from you.”

“Yeah, I’ll do my best,” he replied. Although, he didn’t feel that enthusiastic.

“Sir Anchors?” Rena asked, eyes wide. “You’re a knight?”

“Um, yeah,” he said, feeling his face get warm. “I’ll tell you later; it’s a long story. Anyhow, I’m in the tournament too now.” He showed his pass as they walked out of the castle. “So that’s another chance to speak with the King early.”

“That’s good,” Claude said. “We’ll have to get in plenty of practice in these two weeks.”

“Of course. We’ve got quite some time left in the day; want to get lunch and then go check out the stores for your sponsor?”

“Sure; what about yours?”

“I’ve got a deal with the castle armory, it’s covered.”

As they ate lunch (there was a nice sandwich vendor that could cover the four’s various tastes), Claude asked the two women, “Are you going to come with us to look for a sponsor or do something else?”

“I don’t know,” Rena said. “I wouldn’t be much help choosing your kind of weapons.”

Opera got a mischievous look on her face as she nudged Rena. “Oh, I’m sure we can find some shopping to do. Hey, we could look around for some makeup and exchange beauty tips.”

Looking surprised but interested, Rena replied, “Really? I’ve never worn makeup before.”

“Well then I’ll teach you,” the older woman offered. “You’re charming as you are, but I’m sure you could be lovely with some work.”

She blushed some. “You think? Okay, it sounds fun. I think I should have some…” she glanced in her purse, then paused. “Oh, not again.” She pulled out a shining purple Poison Check out of her purse.

“What’s bad about that?” Ashton asked.

“This is the seventh one that’s just appeared out of nowhere,” Rena replied. “I sold the others. And other stuff just keeps appearing. Mostly useful things like herbs and berries, but I don’t get it.”

“You’re not pickpocketing people, are you?” Opera asked, half-joking.

“N-no, I’m not,” she insisted. “I don’t get where this stuff is coming from.”

“Relax, we trust you,” Claude said, smiling. “But you know, it’s been happening since Clik, right? Maybe it has something to do with your bracelet.”

“The bracelet?” she asked, looking down at her wrist where it was sitting.

“Didn’t Celine say it had a strange prayer to the god or goddess of chance, something like that? Maybe giving you those items is the mischief that bracelet brings.”

She took it off and considered it. “Maybe. Hey Opera, would you wear it for the afternoon? And see if anything odd comes up in your things.”

“Sure, I’ll try it.” Opera took the gold bracelet and looked it over. “Not my usual style, but it is cute.” She slipped it on.

* * *

 

Ashton decided to pin his knight’s medal to his coat. “The vendors should take us more seriously because of it,” he told Claude. He was worried that, as his friend was an illiterate foreigner and unfamiliar with the tournament, the store owners would try to pass off lower quality items on him. Although now that he thought of it, it was bizarre that Claude couldn't read and his writing was completely unintelligible. He certainly wasn't an idiot. Just where was he from? But they didn't push Ashton on Eluria, so he wouldn't push Claude on his background.

“Why hadn’t you told us about being a knight?” Claude asked, even though Ashton had been thinking just the opposite. After he tensed, he added, “It’s just a surprise, you know, given that it’s a respected position.”

_What’re you so **** nervous about?_ Gyoro asked him. _Are they gonna burn you at the stake or something?_

“No,” he answered the dragon quietly. Then he spoke a little louder, so Claude could hear but it'd get lost in the crowd, “I’ve been ashamed of myself, actually. I left Eluria instead of staying behind to fight off the demonic invaders. I should have been brave and noble, as the last of the Elurian knights… but I was scared once things ended up that way.”

“I see. I’ve heard some things about what’s gone on there.” He looked to Ashton a moment, then added, “We can talk about that later, when there’s less people around.”

“Thanks. But to the matter at hand,” he looked around to the weapon store booths, “there are many weapons stores and smiths in Lacour, so you have a lot of options. I wouldn’t decide on a shop too quickly. And remember, they’re supplying everything for the tournament; weapons, armor, accessories, and even support items. We need to check out the whole kit set they’re offering, not just one piece.”

Claude nodded. “All right. Do you know of any we should check out first?”

He shook his head. “Afraid not. I’ve only been here for tournaments as a squire, helping out representatives of Eluria. We always had the kit sent by our castle armory. As a general rule, though, my father said to be wary buying weapons from a store that didn’t have its own smith and forge.”

“Sounds good, but might not help so much. Well then let’s just start here,” he paused outside a store booth. It had an orange carpet with displays of suits of armor and large axes.

The shopkeeper here was a big muscled man with brown skin. He looked like he could be a blacksmith, what with his rough skin and strong looks. But he gave them a friendly smile. “Good afternoon, fellows. This is Counterpunch, the highest quality store around. Anything in particular you need?”

“Yeah, I’m looking for a tournament sponsor,” Claude said.

“Well you’ve found a good store; come on back. Which bracket you in? I’ll get you the kit we’ve got assembled.” He led them to the back of the store.

“Swordsmanship.”

“Ah, the classic. That would be...” he shifted aside some models before finding one and pulling it out. “Here.”

The armor set was very impressive, Ashton thought. It looked to be very solid, well made with no visible stress marks. Yet it was also of the flexible sort that swordsmen like Claude needed, joint movement but also joint protection. But then the sword… when Claude took hold of it, Ashton could tell it was a heavy piece but not of the usual length of a two-handed sword. That wasn’t good.

“You’re primarily an armor shop, aren’t you?” Ashton asked.

The shopkeeper nodded. “That we are. Counterpunch will give you the best personal protection money can buy. That is, for battle armor. And we always put in the best showing for the heavy arms category. But a good swordsman can put our equipment to great use.”

“Could,” Claude agreed. “We’ll keep you in mind, then, but I’d like to look around more.”

“It is the smart thing to do,” he replied. “But I hope to see you again.”

“He’s a nice one, I’ll give him that,” Claude said after they left the booth.

“And you’d be less likely to get hurt wearing that,” Ashton said. “That is, if you don’t mind stretching the battle out by dealing less damage with that sword he had.”

Claude considered it, then shook his head. “I think a balanced kit would fit me better. Let’s try here.”

This store booth had a variety of smaller weapons on display, all kinds of shapes and uses. The storekeeper, a slight man wearing a fez, bowed to one customer who had bought something and waved to them. “Well hello there, welcome to Furlong’s, and I would be the owner, Furlong. How may I help you?”

Nodding back, Claude said, “Hello. I’m looking for a tournament sponsor.”

“Well then you’ve made a wise decision in coming here,” Furlong said. “My family’s store had sponsored many past tournament champions, including most brackets from last year’s competition. Which one are you looking to enter? And you?” He looked to Ashton.

“I’ve got other arrangements made,” he said. “He’s entering the swordsmanship bracket.”

He turned back to Claude. “I thought so. You’ve got that kind of build. Well our kit for that bracket is right here.” He went over to the side to a display model and took the sword from it. “This is likely the weapon with the most potential that you will see at this year’s tournament, mark my words. The classic longsword that we make is excellent by itself, but if you know the special skills of customizing weapons, you can unlock even greater power from this humble looking blade.”

Admittingly, the longsword was a nice weapon, and the one Claude had just been handed looked to be a masterfully made weapon. But when they looked at the armor given with the kit, it was just pitiful. The body and leg armor were both made of leather, while the shield was made of wood. As for the helm, it had metal, but only some bands to enhance the leather straps that made up the majority of it.

“This is nice,” Claude said, but handed the sword back. “We’ll think about it.”

Furlong nodded. “All right, but don’t go kicking yourself when you miss out on signing up with the winning store.”

As they left, Claude looked as though he definitely wasn’t taking that store. “That armor was like something you’d give a kid,” he commented. “The sword the first store had would mess up anyone in that armor set.”

“I agree,” Ashton said. “I suppose each store specializes in something. That could be a problem with these kits.”

“But it’s all to test the effectiveness of these weapons and show off each store’s potential, right?” Claude thought about it. “Or is it all about money?”

“Some people might say that, about your end of it.” Ashton rubbed his nose. “But well, some people do take it seriously and make it a matter of pride. My father said those were always the toughest opponents. Since I’m representing my country, like anyone who comes over from the Cross knights, it’s a more serious matter.”

“I see.” Claude looked at one store, but it was only selling jewelry. “I thought this might be a good opportunity to test myself, actually. I’ll be facing fighters that I know aren’t mindless monsters. I’ve never seen how good I could be, much less while others look on.”

Smiling, Ashton replied, “That’s a good reason. Just think of someone you respect and tell yourself that you can’t let that person down. That helps me to fight my best no matter _Barrel!_ Ururun!” He glared at the lavender colored dragon, who was staring at a booth that had several stacks of barrels holding their wares.

Claude nearly laughed, then tried to hide it as a cough. “That was… unexpected.” He kept his hand over his face while he tried to erase a grin.

Ashton crossed his arms while Gyoro nipped at his twin. “If anyone had told me that dragons can be obsessed with barrels before this, I wouldn’t have believed him. _But I want to look at the lovely barrels closer_ not right now. We’re busy _so quit your ******* whining_ and please don’t cuss using my voice anymore.”

“Here’s another store,” Claude said, managing to stop the three from arguing. “Let’s hope this one’s better. Excuse me, sir.”

The owner, a man wearing a blue cloak, turned towards them. He seemed to be a stoic, based on his lack of expression and flat-toned voice. “Oh, good afternoon. This would be Straight; how may I assist you?”

“I’m looking for a tournament sponsor, for the swordsmanship bracket,” Claude stated, getting the hang of it. “Are you still open for contestants?”

“For swordsmanship? Yes. But are you kidding me? You, in swordsmanship?”

Taken aback, Claude pushed his hair back. “Don’t I look the part?”

“Looking the part is one thing, entirely separate from actual skill. But no matter. I’ve seen scrawnier lads than you do impressively. As we like to say, a few wounds do not a corpse make.”

That did not sound promising. Ashton wondered how this place stayed in business with a motto like that. “What will I be using for equipment if I’m with this store?” Claude asked.

“It would be that set,” the storekeeper said, pointing to one model bearing the equipment. “Take as much time as you need to consider it. I’ll answer any questions.”

This store was being better about being balanced between offense and defense, Ashton considered. The armor and the weapon were all decent. Like the others, there was a note about what healing items they would provide. It was like any other: a few syrup potions, some berries, and an accessory. This shop in particular offered a Paralysis Check accessory. It was very useful if the opponent liked to use paralysis inducing spells. But those were rare. And none of the equipment was particularly outstanding either.

“I think I’ll check on some other shops, thank you,” Claude said to the shopkeeper. “But it is a nice set.”

“We at Straight do our best to make well-rounded competitors,” the storekeeper said. “I would advise you to be cautious. Around this time of year, many unscrupulous shops pop up, only to disappear after the tournament ends. Others will try to brag, but have nothing behind it but hot air. Check the palace records if in doubt.”

He nodded. “All right, thanks for that.” As they walked away, Claude added, “That might be a decent one, but I’m not sure.”

“We’ve got plenty of time for this,” Ashton said. “You can wait until the day before the tournament to get a sponsor, even. But if we’re going down to Linga, we might want to decide on one now.”

“Right. Hey, what do you think of that place?” He pointed to a short path which led to one of the buildings lining the market avenue. There were various posters of warriors and weapons on the store front.

“They’re accepting tournament competitors, so it might be worth a look,” Ashton said. They went into the Slayers shop.

It had the look of a permanent store, which was a promising sign. There were many eclectic weapons and armors on display. Polishing an old shield was a woman in a white cloak, sitting on the floor and humming to herself. She looked up at them and grinned. “Oh, good afternoon there! Welcome to Slayers; I’m the owner and proprietor Edda. Anything special you fellows have your eyes on?” She winked.

“Not right now,” Claude said (to her disappointment). “I am looking for a sponsor for the tournament and saw that you’re taking some participants.”

She got up. “Oh yes, of course! But only some. My store deals in rare, exotic, and unusual equipment, so I can’t even pre-make kits because we have to make due with what in inventory. But I’m sure we can find some good pieces for you. Which bracket are you entering?” She went over to a case and opened it; it held leg armors.

“Swordsmanship,” he replied. “I hope it’s not too much trouble.”

“No, of course not. It’s all worth it.” She smiled, looked at him, then picked a set and handed them to him. “I love the Tournament of Arms. There’s nothing more inspiring than young men fighting it out in battle, with the rarest of weapons strapped to their bodies.” She giggled.

_Oh, for heaven’s sake,_ Gyoro grumbled, snorting. In the meantime, Claude leaned back, looking a bit awkward.

“Don’t worry, young man, I’m just being poetic. And not as much as I could be.” Edda came back with a round shield. “This is a very nice buckler; see the strap? You can attach it to your arm to free up one hand to use a two-handed or bastard sword. As for your chest armor… well you’re in swordsmanship, so we don’t have to worry about projectiles. How about a fine mesh chainmail? All the protection of plate armor with less weight. I’d have to get your measurements, though, to get one that fits best.”

“I see. If I decide to go with this store, then yes. What kind of sword will I use, though?”

“Oh yes, that’s the big question. What do you like? I’ve got quite a selection.” She led them to a row of display cases with dozens of swords to choose from. “What kind of fighting style do you use? I’ve got some specialty blades for specialty styles, but you’ll need to speak up.”

“I try to stay adaptable,” Claude said. “So I don’t tie myself down to one style.”

“His style is one that makes basic moves more effective,” Ashton commented. “I’ve seen you use some special moves, but you don’t do that often. Yet your basic strike attacks do a surprising amount of damage and come relatively quick.”

Edda listened and nodded as they spoke. “I see. I think I know of a good one.” She went to the third cabinet from the left and opened it. She pulled out a steel blade with a handle covered in blue leather. “Now watch this.” She spun the blade in her hands; an iridescent sheen appeared on the metal.

“Is that an enchantment?” Ashton asked.

“It is, but an odd one not enough to qualify it for the heraldic weapons bracket, or disqualify from others. This is known as a walloon sword. It was once an ordinary steel sword, but a fae monster stole it and kept this in its lair for a long time. After enough time, the magic of the monster begins to infuse the weapon. This in particular was owned by a jelly monster in the Lasguss mountain range. Every walloon is slightly different.” She handed it over. “I’m not sure what this one’s effect is, but I can guarantee you that it’s not a negative one.”

“Is that so?” Claude tested it out and it seemed the handle well in his hand. “It is a nice blade.” He handed it back. “I’m still thinking about it, so I may come back later.”

She smiled. “Sure enough. I hope you do come back; my shop will treat you well. Oh, and I do have a mini-kit of sorts, with the items. Those are listed on the paper by the door, but you’ll certainly see that you won’t be getting anything like that with any other shop. Good luck, young man.” She then went to set aside the things she had picked out.

As they left the shop, Claude said, “She’s kind of weird, but the equipment was nice.”

“I’d definitely keep this shop as an option,” Ashton agreed. He looked at the sky to judge how much time they had left.

At the end of the day, they decided to go with Edda and the Slayers shop. After getting Claude fitted for a long chainmail coat, they went to find where the women had gotten to.


	17. A Disappoiting End

-Dias, Lacour City, downtown market

The streets of Lacour were noisy and packed. Kids chased each other around, cats and dogs slunk along pathways, traders looked over each others’ produce and goods, and peasants looked for good deals. Much of it was the daily market bustle, but a considerable amount of business was focused on the upcoming Tournament of Arms. Out of town attendees had not yet descended here, as it was still a good two weeks off. But participants such as Dias were already in Lacour, checking out sponsors and making plans.

He was examining a piece of chain mail. It was part of a kit that this sponsor distributed. By rules of the competition, participants could not use any of their own equipment or items. They were limited to what came in their kit. So it was vital to check every part of it. He could already tell that foolish warriors would only check the weapon.

The reason he could? The vendors seemed to talk exclusively about the weapons. “The design of the edge is what really sets our shop apart,” he said, holding the long sword that came in the kit. “We’ve always had extra durable blades, but this design is going to become very popular after the tourney. We can guarantee you that this edge will never need sharpening. It will remain good for the entire life of this weapon.”

Dias finally put the chainmail down and took the long sword to examine it. A press against that edge and the weight of the weapon told him all he needed to know. “It’ll never need sharpening because it will always be dull.”

“No, you’ve got that wrong,” the vendor started to counter.

He passed the sword back. “That’s not a cutting sword; it’s a blunt force weapon. It may be suitable for a savage, but it’s unacceptable to me.”

Aware that he wasn’t dealing with an idiot, the vendor tried to change tactics. “We do have a secondary kit, if you’d like to see it. It’s meant for more sophisticated customers such as yourself.”

“Based on the state of your stand’s inventory, no.” Dias then left that store.

Things were not looking promising. Lacour was widely recognized as where the best smiths lived and studied. Owning a Lacourian weapon or armor was a sign of prosperity over in Cross. In the old days, they were so good that the Lacourian weapons became heritage weapons, passed from father to son over many generations. The phrase 'the lacour de Lacour' meant one was dealing with the finest example of a particular weapon, and it extended out to other objects such as wine because of the prestige associated with it.

The stuff Dias was seeing today wasn’t living up to his expectations. With the basic weapons, the lesser armors, and the signs of flash over power, he felt he could have gotten better gear easily back in Cross. He had a suspicion that the last shop wasn’t the only one offering different kits to different fighters. As this was his first year entering, perhaps they judged him as someone to take advantage of, used to make the store’s star fighter (most likely a noble) look much better. He wasn’t going to settle for that role.

Looking over the other outdoor shops, he considered which one to go to next. He was picking stores initially based on the weapons they had on display; he wasn’t going to check out the store displaying a large cannon and no swords. But there were other weapons shops in the buildings or further down the street. There was a lot of choice to be had. And a lot of competitors, if he heard things right.

The word ‘Zand’ drifted out of the crowd and reached him.

Dias dismissed choosing a weapons store and opted to find out who had said that. He spotted a trio of men sitting on and around a group of crates. Trying not to alert them, he looked into a shop booth nearby to listen to them.

“Yeah, he’s the bandit ringleader over in Cross,” one man said. “I heard he's a man you do not want to mess with, since he'll cut someone's tongue out for a laugh. What about him?”

“He’s crossed over to Lacour recently, either to escape heat from the knights or avoid some competitor. I’ve heard both stories. He’s gotten too bold with flaunting his wealth and power, by having his thugs have wild parties at his mansion in Herlie. I heard he’s down south around the Smokey Swamp.”

“So is he restarting here?”

“Seems like it. But if Zand means to set up in there, he’s in for a nasty surprise.”

One of the others laughed. “Oh yes, with the swamp spirits. He’s gonna learn the hard way why no one lives there.”

Zand was cleverer than they realized, Dias thought. The bandit leader probably knew of the swamp’s tales and would use them to his advantage. However, if he was in the process of settling in there, it was an ideal opportunity for Dias to strike.

The Tournament was two weeks away. He had time. Heading out of the marketplace, Dias decided to find information on this swamp and head out there soon. Besides, it’d be good to get away from this city. Dias couldn’t stand the hustle, bustle, and noise around him.

* * *

 

-Dano, 4D

His new puzzle had arrived. Dano carefully opened the box so as to leave only the barest disturbance on it. Pouring the multitude of pieces onto the table, he placed the box on a nearby shelf and considered the pieces. They were all cut identical to each other; one couldn’t tell one was in the wrong place by it not fitting there. This particular puzzle was of an assortment of colored crayons. Although there were many different colors, they were all mixed up.

It looked to be a good challenge.

First of all, he sorted the pieces. There was the obvious start of pick out the edges and four corners. But there was also the sort by color, form, and texture. That wasn’t too helpful with this particular puzzle, but he wouldn’t be able to start without an organization system in place. The rainbow system was needed here. Pieces with a lot of reds start at one end of the table, leading into the oranges, then yellows, then down through the color scale to violets. Then a separate area for colors outside the rainbow. Black to gray to white, then an assortment of brown piles… and a metallic pile, he needed that for this particular puzzle. And a specialty pile; some of the crayons pictured were unique, like multicolored crayons, glitter crayons, and even a few stray pieces of sidewalk chalk. But he also needed the space to form the puzzle.

Fortunately, this was a specialty jigsaw puzzle table. It was a wooden piece of furniture with two surfaces. One was the sorting area, which was where he had the puzzle pieces. The other was the assembly area, which would be empty until Dano had his sorting done.

His robotic butler came in and made a quiet beep. “Excuse me, but you scheduled some time in the Eternal Sphere in five minutes.”

“All right.” Dano looked over the puzzle pieces for a minute longer, but a pestering thought had found its way back to him. Was this really all that life had to offer him? A schedule of puzzles and games? Something felt sorely lacking, like a challenge to life itself.

“Master Dano,” the butler stated, getting his attention again. “You seem to be getting restless.”

A moment of worry came to him as he recalled C.J.’s problem, getting blocked into choosing a life reset because she had been bored, restless. But it passed as he reassured himself that he was too young to encounter that problem. “My schedule hasn’t changed in years,” he told the butler. “I’m starting to feel like I’m not accomplishing anything.”

“Perhaps a life change would be acceptable, like earning a job or getting married.”

Marriage. That sounded different enough. While Dano had been in relationships before, it had all been in the Eternal Sphere. He had not even been on a date in the 4D realm, which wasn't all that unusual outside the party-goers and revelers. Earning a job… he’d tried that before. One took a test for the position, then waited for a long time to get results back. He hadn’t succeeded in earning a job the one time he'd tried. It seemed to take more luck than skill to get the job and he hated things like that.

“I’ll consider it,” Dano said. Then he went to log into the Eternal Sphere.

* * *

 

-Dias, Smoky Swamp

The ground was pale green with algae and plants, making it impossible to tell by sight what ground was solid, what was water, and what was a muddy mush. Trees with thick and drooping foliage were everywhere, leaving branches and logs scattered on the ground. And anywhere there was support, there were thick vines that could be adapted to replace rope. In this moist area, a grayish mist often clung to the ground, giving the swamp its name.

Early on, Dias had picked up a long stick to use in testing the ground for safe paths to tread. He may not have needed it, though. On finding the end of one path, he ran into another section of wooden boards. A floating pathway with a tall lip, it was meant to offer easier navigation of the wetland.

He knelt down and checked the nearest board. Rapping his knuckle against it, it had a dry top. The swamp water hadn’t yet saturated the man-made bridge. There were recent pathways. Made by Zand’s gang? It was possible, but he hadn’t run into any of them yet.

He had run into plenty of swamp monsters. Giant punching rabbits, red furred wolves, monstrous plants, fae mages… every now and then, he had to kill one. Then others stayed away from him, at least until another reckless monster came bravely onto his path. Dias didn’t find them much of a challenge. He crossed this bridge of boards; none of them sank enough under his weight to cause him worry. A single bat tried to worry him, but wound up dead.

Where were the bandits? Had he come to yet another bad lead? That would be frustrating. Then again, those bridges were new and he might have further to travel. Dias pressed on.

On crossing another bridge, he finally saw a human form in the smoky mist. As his boots thumped against the boards, his presence was surely known already. He put his hand on his katana’s blade, ready to draw at any threat. Then he slowly approached the other person.

The form never moved. It was down low, as if seated against a stump. If he were asleep, Dias might be able to sneak by him. Softening his footsteps, he began to see a blue-gray hoodie on the figure. That was the clothing preferred by Zand’s gang minions. His heartbeat moved faster. He was close, it could all end shortly…

Once he was back on solid land, Dias saw that he had nothing to fear from this pale bandit. He was dead. The young swordsman knelt by him, examining the wounds. Across his chest, there were over a dozen deep stabs, likely made by a dagger. More wounds were on his shoulders and upper thighs, while his hands had both been cut off. Someone had really hated this bandit.

A sting of disappointment hit him. Had someone else already struck against Zand’s gang? Or, more likely he realized, had Zand slaughtered this minion of his and left the corpse as a warning to any who came this far into the swamp? In that case, Dias was on the right path.

“A sloppy execution,” he commented to himself as he got up. Tapping his guide stick around in case of a weak board, he continued his search for his hated foe Zand.

* * *

 

When he’d asked around Lacour about going into this place, nearly everyone had told him not to do it. It was rumored to be a patch of Hell, where demons lurked to prey on unwary travelers. Other less superstitious talk was that the swamp held magic that caused people to experience hallucinations. Believing in the latter, Dias felt that he should be fine with an illusion preventing charm.

Now, he wasn’t so sure that was enough.

It was the singing that convinced him of that. There was a little girl singing somewhere in the swamp where she logically shouldn’t be. Perhaps it was a fae, or even a demon. But it sounded so much like his sister Cecile that he was periodically tempted to go find her, even if that meant straying off the path of bridges Zand had made. That would mean he could get hopelessly lost and lose his chance at revenge. Doing his best to ignore the music, Dias kept going.

“You couldn’t find her anyways,” his father said. “You don’t deserve to go where she is.”

The voice caused chills down his spine; he turned automatically to see if it was who he thought it was. And, over on a nearby wooden platform in the marsh, there was a familiar man in clothes much like his own. His father's ghost? Dias gripped the anti-illusion pendant and immediately, the vision went murky. Was it really his father out there? Or a skeleton hanging from a tree? Probably the latter. He calmed himself and continued on down the path.

After a time (maybe several minutes, maybe several hours, he wasn't entirely sure anymore), he came across another wooden platform in the swamp. This one had a half-constructed shack on it, three more bodies of Zand's bandits, and one living person. His cloak of red and gold was trembling and he didn't heed Dias' approach. Seeing those clothes again made Dias' blood boil. Images of the nightmare he'd lived through flashed through his mind. Even with the deep hatred, he wasn't going to take this sight for granted. The illusions of this swamp were powerful; he gripped the pendant again, hoping its power hadn't faded.

Nothing changed. This was real. Finally, he had caught back up to this devil and was going to make him pay. Keeping a hand on his sword handle, he approached steadily. “Zand.”

Zand turned around quickly, throwing off his cloak in a near panic. His eyes were bloodshot with dark rings and his long brown hair was matted with greenish mud of the swamp. A golden ring on a chain bounded off the chest of his impressive black and gold armor, a certain sign that this was the bandit king. “Are you betraying me too?” he asked angrily, his hand on his oversized steel sword.

“I was never loyal to you,” Dias said sharply. “You took the lives of my family and destroyed mine. I am here to end yours.”

“Yul? You never learn.”

“I am not Yul,” Dias said, angered that he wasn't recognized. “I am Dias Flac. Goodbye.” He drew his sword in a flash and swung high, aiming right for Zand's neck. His strike was true; the scowling head fell onto the platform and began rolling into the bog before his body realized its death and toppled over.

Staring at his handiwork, Dias took a step back. That had been a perfect move, the pinnacle of the sword style that his father had taught him. But looking at this masterwork, it felt unsatisfying. This man had caused such suffering, tormenting all of Dias' dreams, but he was killed too swiftly. Maybe he should have allowed him a more even fight.

No. No, this man had to die and he didn't want to take chances. “May my family rest in peace with their killer gone from this world,” Dias said, closing his eyes and bowing his head.

“How can we do that when you've grown to be good at nothing but killing?” his mother's voice said. “You don't even have a girlfriend. Who's going to remember you when you die? Who's going to remember us when you die?”

Dias tensed further; touching the pendant only made the voice fade a little. But it was a truth that he couldn't deny. He had devoted himself to this one moment of killing Zand, and now that it was done... what did he do? And who would remember...?

“Rena would,” he said quietly.

The voice of the little girl started again, this time singing a song that seemed entirely inappropriate for an innocent child. “Are you sure about that?” the motherly voice went on. “After you pushed her away, I doubt any girl would like you.”

“What are you going to do after this?” the fatherly voice asked. “You dedicated your life to this lowly fiend and now that he's done with, what will you do? Keep killing and become a worse monster than him?”

“No,” Dias said. Although, he couldn't answer any of the other questions. Was he even sure that answer was the truth?

“Come and die to feed the swamp,” the little girl sang.

“But you'll never see us again, with your blood-stained hands.”

Grimacing, Dias fled the way he came. He followed the wooden planks knowing that they led to the way out. The voices continued to haunt him and the pendent seemed to no longer work. Could he get out of here before they drove him mad?

* * *

 

-4D chatroom

C.J.: Oh, I’ve got that sampler done! Check it out (pic)

Ashe: Wow, you did that all by hand? That’s neat.

C.J.: I know it’s only a simple thing, but I feel so accomplished.

Nancy: Does that confirm sewing as your new hobby? That one has so many branches that you shouldn’t need to worry about the medical network for a long time.

C.J.: It should. I haven’t met with Dr. Hall since finishing it.

(Dano has entered the chat room)

Nancy: You might try to make an appointment then.

Nancy: Hi Dano.

C.J.: Hi Dano. It’s been a little while.

Dano: Hi. And sorry for not being in contact C.J., but I’ve been involved with other things. Something came up and you were the only one I could think of to ask.

C.J.: Well I’m honored by that. What is it, darling?

Dano: My robot butler and I were talking earlier and he noted that I was getting restless. He suggested that I look into getting married. So I’ve been thinking and looking into it, but I’m not sure how this works.

Nancy: Right, since they don’t explain it well to you when you’re young.

Ashe: My butler said I was too young to look into that seriously, but I hope you don’t mind me listening.

Dano: No problem, Ashe.

C.J.: Oo, marriage? That’s the next big step after you get your own home. What did you want to know?

Nancy: If it’s anything… intimate, we may have to ask Ashe to leave.

Ashe: Hey! I’m not that young.

Dano: (chuckles) Nothing like that. I’m just not sure how this works in 4D. I’ve had a couple of courtships and marriages in the Eternal Sphere, but not in reality.

C.J.: Ah. Well I’m sorry to inform you of this, but it’s not nearly as exciting over here as it is in there.

C.J.: You need to contact the dating services center first. They’ll want to give you a thorough medical and psychological examination first. Then you have the interview phase where they dig more into your personality, figuring out what you want in a wife and a marriage. Then they pair you with an appropriate match, you get married… and that’s it.

Dano: That’s it?

C.J.: Pretty much. Once you get matched, you can go on a few dates with them, but it’s expected that all matches will end in marriage on the first try.

Ashe: And they do this without you even meeting potential girlfriends?

Nancy: That’s the sad truth of it. But it works really well; I’m very happy with Jeb and divorce is non-existent, thanks to the thoroughness of the dating services center.

Dano: That is disappointing. I’ve felt like I’ve needed a new challenge to life… but that’s not a challenge! That’s just the government telling you who you should marry.

Nancy: But they do a REALLY good job of it.

C.J.: She’s right (although it does stink that you can’t at least try out dating in 4D).

C.J.: What you could do, when you take the marriage interview, is to request a courtship sim with your fiance in the Eternal Sphere. Even with it already being chosen for you, you can at least roleplay some of the old-fashioned trial and error courting experiences and challenges.

Nancy: Oh yes, the courtship sim! That was such fun.

C.J.: I didn’t do that (sighs). I wish I had. As much as I loved my husband, bless his soul, the first few months were a tad uncertain.

Nancy: I got into a shotgun wedding between Bowman and Nineh before I even met Jeb! (blushes)

Ashe: (laughs)

CJ: I remember that, ha ha. Totally pushed Celine's buttons and made her do a, frankly necessary, personality shift.

Nancy: Aw, she wasn't far from being a girl then. But out of luck due to our arrangement.

Dano: Heh. I’m not sure I’d want to do that with Dias. It would be too abrupt a shift in personality. That sim does sound like a possibility, even if I’d have to break my own one character at a time rule.

C.J.: If you’re looking for a challenge in a change, I’d suggest requesting the sim.

Nancy: Man, Nineh's not met Dias, but I could hardly imagine him getting into the situation Bowman was in. Not just with the arranged marriage girl, but all the other girls...

CJ: No, no... Now you're making me want to see Dias with a comic harem. Bad Nancy.

Dano: Not putting Dias through that. Although, I kind of want to see the recordings now.

Ashe: That would be priceless.


	18. The Teenaged Tornado

-Ashton, outside Linga

The Lacour countryside was filled with mountains and hills, Ashton noticed as they drove along the road to Linga. Moreso than Eluria, which, aside from a group of mountains in the northwest, was a fairly flat land. Here, there was a fairly solitary (and massive) mountain that they were just south of, with a mass of mountains to the east, curving down to further south. There had been a large crater that was still in sight too, with lots of young forest growth quickly moving to fill it it. Ahead in the valley between the mountains, there was the town they were looking for.

Right off, one could see it was a peculiar town. A number of the homes were made or roofed with metal. There was a lot of brickwork but still, Ashton had never seen so much metal at once. A great number of trees were clustered in spots, and a good sized stream ran through part of the town. Somewhere in that town was the university they were looking for.

After dropping their horses and cart off at a stable, the four travelers discussed what to do. “Have any of you been to this town before?” Opera asked.

Ashton shook his head. “I haven’t been many places in Eluria besides Port Hilton and the castle.”

_If it don’t got Energy Stone, then it’s ******* boring!_ Gyoro commented in Ashton’s head.

“I’ve never been to this continent before, so of course I haven’t,” Rena said, her smile showing she wasn’t too worried about it.

“Can’t say that I have,” Claude said, his eyes drifting to the sky again.

“It’s supposed to be a fairly safe town,” Ashton said. He looked at the streets, mostly empty with just a few pedestrians. “We could split up and look into finding a translator.”

“STOP!” a shrill voice crashed through the air. Everyone on the street looked as an orange-haired girl about Rena’s age came rushing down the street chasing a strange round metal creature that was running away from her. The others in the street hurried to get away from the situation. “Bobot, get back here!”

It tried curving in an evasive maneuver, but she matched it. That is, until it came close to them, stopped, then turned sharply to the north. The girl attempted to continue the chase, but couldn’t make her turns as sharp and wound up falling flat on her face. A strange metal clatter came from her large backpack as she hit the ground. The metal thing stopped again, looked at her, then turned back and kept running.

As it was, Claude happened to be closest to her. He knelt down. “Are you all right? Need some help?”

The girl got on her knees, looking angrily at the ground. Then she looked up to them and blushed. “Oh! No, I’m okay.” She got up herself, so Claude stood too. The girl laughed nervously, brushing dirt off her face. “It’s fine. This kind of thing happens to me on a regulated basis, seriously.”

“I think you mean regular basis, but it’s good to see you’re okay,” Claude responded.

“What was that…” Opera paused, seeming to change her words mid-question, “thing you were chasing?”

“Oh, my Bobot?” She looked around, now worried. “Where did he go?”

“It went up that way,” Ashton said, pointing to the northern path.

“Ah man,” she said, looking down the tree-lined path. “Now I’m probably gonna lose him in the trees. I gotta go.” She started running down the path.

“Wait, you sure you’re okay?” Claude asked.

That got her to slow and turn to them again. “I’m fine, thanks for caring. Toodle-o!” Then she rushed back off.

“What an odd girl,” Opera said, crossing her arms over her chest and looking thoughtful.

“She’s more like a tornado than a teenager,” Rena said.

Feeling a little bad in that they were talking poorly about her while she wasn’t there, Ashton said, “I dunno, I thought she was kind of cute.”

“Oh?” Rena asked, looking to him curiously. “Is she your type?”

_Zinged!_

Now blushing himself, Ashton waved his hand back to get Gyoro to shut up (and stop grinning like that). “I didn’t mean it like that! Don’t read too much into it. I just thought, it’s not good to talk about people like that.”

“I guess so,” Rena said, looking a little regretful. “Sorry. Do we all want to split up to look for a translator? I have the book.”

Claude looked around the town, then pointed to the northern path. “Looks like there’s a bridge that way. How about we meet there around evening, if not sooner? We’ll need some time to check into the inn.”

That sounded reasonable, so the group split up.

* * *

 

-Opera, a Linga pharmacy

In studying the patterns of development across many planetary civilizations, Opera had confirmed that the best place to start finding local information was the local bar. It didn’t matter what religion was strong, what government was in charge, what taboos and laws were in place… people tended to gather where the proprietors sold alcohol or, in the case of alcohol-resistant species like her own, whatever the mind-altering equivalent was. And she wasn’t prissy enough to skip out on it.

However, that became a problem in checking on Linga. “I can’t believe there isn’t a single bar in this whole town,” she said softly to herself. “It’s supposed to be a liberal place, with a university even. But it seems like everyone is a health nut instead.”

And that was true. Instead of bars, Opera had found a great number of pharmacies. In the southern part of Linga, she had found a fairly popular one that was almost a substitute bar. The sign said it sold only non-alcoholic drinks, but there were a number of people at the counter chatting and drinking… something.

She went up to the counter, quickly gathering looks from the male customers. Odd, she thought, that she was considered more beautiful by men outside of her species than in it. “What kind of drinks do you got in this place?” she asked the man making the drinks.

He looked her over, then leaned on the counter. “Honestly, it’s a bunch of quackery my family has cooked up over the years. But it’s darn tasty quackery, so I’m not willing to pass up on it yet.”

Smiling, she replied, “At least you’d admit it. What’s good?”

“All of it. Would you care to try a Sour Apple Beauty Booster? Supposedly makes the skin, eyes, and hair more vibrant.”

“Cute. I’ll give it a try.”

“What’s a lovely lady like you looking for around here?” a man at the counter asked. The sparkle in his eyes made it obvious he was looking to hit on her.

She sat down and gave him a coy smile. “I came because of the university, of course. I’m quite interested in ruins and history…” a cute flick of the eyelashes, and, “and so is my boyfriend. I’m looking for him and this seems like the kind of place he’d check out. Have you seen or heard about a man with three eyes, like me, named Ernest?”

“Can’t say that I have,” he replied. From the way his eyes drifted, he seemed to be thinking of a new strategy of flirting. Just because she said she had a boyfriend rarely stopped this kind of man.

“What is it with the three eyes anyhow?” another man asked.

“Here’s your drink,” the sort-of bartender said.

“Thanks.” She then looked to the other customer. “It’s a side-effect of a special brand of heraldry. A bit dangerous too, and not even in getting an extra eye.”

“Now that doesn’t make much sense,” he replied. “How can heraldry make you grow another eye?”

This wasn’t a bar, she reminded herself. These folks were likely thinking straight. And being a university town, possibly thinking fast and well. “I’m sorry, but it’s a village secret,” she replied kindly. “Historical legacy and all, you must understand.”

Deciding to fish for some more information, especially to help her fellow travelers, she kept talking to the folks at the not-a-bar pharmacy.

* * *

 

-Precis, north Linga

At the river that cut through town, she finally found him. Bobot was sitting by the water’s edge, looking at it warily. “There you are!” Precis called.

Beeping in a nervous tone, the metal creature turned slowly to face her. He glanced from side to side, as if looking for an escape. What was he so nervous about? She just had a new update for him. It was like last… oh.

“Look, I’m sorry about the last upgrade I gave you,” she said. “I didn’t expect it to have that result. But this is different, I promise! See, it’s normal.” She held out the small square disk with the information on it. “I made it so that you can use your mapping program with the holographic generator. That way, you can project maps like you do other images. That’ll be mighty useful in exploring, won’t it? Since I can see the map then and make decisions on where we should go.”

“Ooooo…” Bobot replied. He must have still remembered the mess the other upgrade caused. Seemingly calmed down some, he came a few steps closer and held his hand out.

“Okay, you can look at it.” She knelt down and handed the chip to him. “And you know what? I just saw the cutest guy I’ve ever seen, and he seems real nice.” Then she shook her head. “But you made me trip up right in front of him and run off before… oh, I didn’t even tell him my name! Or figure out who he was.” She sighed and rested her chin on her knee. “Aw geez.”

After a moment of checking the chip, Bobot ate it, examined the information on it, then spit it back out. To test the new program, he produced a holographic map of the town of Linga. It was perfectly done.

She smiled. “See? I told you so. You’re my buddy, so I want to take you along when I travel around looking for more machinery ideas. Like I want to go to Hilton and see the boats they have.”

Bobot then pointed down the path. Someone was coming up it. Turning to see who, Precis soon hopped back onto her feet.

“Oh, that’s him! The guy I was telling you about. I don’t see the other people who were with him. I wonder what they’re doing.” She smiled. “His blond hair is so cute like that. And he looks like he’s strong. I guess with that armor and stuff, he’s probably a swordsman.”

The young man looked around, obviously unfamiliar with this town. Then he happened to look her way. ”Oh, there you are,” he said. Then he came over to them.

Feeling her heartbeat speed up, Precis thought frantically. What should she do? Wondering if she should have listened to other girls her age gossiping about guys they liked, she decided to just act normally and hope that was the best. “Hi again! What’s up?”

“Just wondering how you were doing,” he said kindly.

Had he come looking for her? This was great! “Oh, is this a pickup? I love those!”

Unfortunately, that startled him. He rubbed his head. “Ah, not exactly...”

“Well that's okay too,” she said, not wanting to scare him off. “That was nothing. I'm training to be an adventurer, so can't let a little spill like that bother me.”

He nodded. “Right, that's true. So you caught it.” He looked down at Bobot. “It’s a strange thing to see on a… around here, I guess.”

“Oh, Bobot? Yeah, I guess so.” She picked him up, making him warble happily. “Normally he behaves himself, but sometimes… see, I was trying to give him this update I just made for him, but he got scared. Last time I gave him an update, I wanted to give him a better jump by attaching rockets to his boots.” Precis made a face. “That didn’t work out.”

He smiled. “I imagine. I’m Claude Kenni, by the way.”

Even his name sounded exotic, she thought. Nobody around Linga was named anything like that. “Well hi Claude! I’m Precis Nuemann. I live here. Well not here here, but I live in Linga.” She tried to smile back, but was thinking that she sounded silly. But it was all made up when he shook hands with her. Claude really was friendly.

“So you were making an update for Bobot?” he asked, sounding curious.

He’s even interested in machines? Silently thanking whatever angel had sent him her way, Precis nodded. “Yeah. I know this is gonna sound really weird, but there’s this secret language of metal. If you know how to write in this secret language, you can make things like Bobot move around and do stuff without direct human contact. You know, like puppets or stuff. I’ve got a mechanical hand in here,” she patted her backpack, “that’s the same way, except I control it with buttons.”

“Then you write the…” he said something weirdly garbled, then went, “I mean, the language for these things, and make them do things? That is clever.” He seemed amused by this. “Where did you find Bobot and your mechanical hand?”

“Well the hand I built myself. Bobot was a gift from my dad.” She glanced around, wondering if she should tell him. But then, most people would have become bored, thought she was lying, or tried to have escape the conversation by now. Then, it was probably okay. She lowered her voice, but leaned up on the tips of her feet in excitement. “You have to keep it a secret though, all right?”

“What secret? You’ve just met me.”

“But I can tell you really like machines too, so I can trust you. See, it happened about twelve years ago. There was this falling star that crashed into the plains between Linga and the castle. I was just four so I didn’t get what was going on, but my parents went up there to meet with some researchers from the castle and they found the most amazing thing. There was this big hunk of metal in the crash site, but not your ordinary meteorite! It was something that was man-made! And it was filled with all sorts of machinery and gizmos, like Bobot here. And it was bigger than the university! Isn’t that amazing?”

Strangely enough, he seemed disappointed for a moment. But he still looked interested in the story. “Yeah, it is. A man-made metal thing bigger than that university?” He glanced over the river, where the five-story gray brick building was. “You think we would have noticed something like that from the road.”

Precis nodded. “You would have, but people have taken out all the metal and reworked it into other stuff. Like rebuilding most of this town after a bad storm ten years ago; only the crater's left anymore and it's become a forest already. The castle researchers took some things from the impact site, but my parents took a lot of the machinery to study and use. So I grew up with stuff like Bobot and other machines.” She dropped back down, hugging her metal buddy closer. “Some other people around here still think the machines are weird and possibly dangerous. I don’t agree. They’re so useful.”

He had looked back to her by now. “Machines are useful. But most people around here haven’t seen enough to know that. Back when I was in Cross, I met people who didn’t even know what machines were.”

“Really? I guess they are that new. Oh, but if you’d like, I can show you around my workshop. I’ve got lots of stuff I’m working on. Want to see it?” Maybe if she did that, he would be so impressed with her skills that he would instantly fall in love with her. That would be incredible.

“If that’s all right with your parents,” he said.

“It’s just me and the old man now, but sure, it’ll be fine. Come on, it’s this way!” She skipped off back to the southern part of Linga, thinking happy thoughts. Maybe she could get Claude as a boyfriend, a man who was strong, kind, and even smart… that’d make her way luckier than all the other village girls, who could, at best, only manage two out of the three traits! No, she shouldn’t rush ahead too much… but it was just so exciting to think about.

This was getting to be a great day, Precis thought.

* * *

 

-Bowman, Jeane Pharmacy

It was a great day, Bowman thought. He whistled as he took inventory of items in his store. In a couple of weeks, the Tournament of Arms would come up. Although he had left the castle research labs some time ago, he would be returning to act as a tournament healer. The entrants took such risks, so people of his skills and experience were greatly needed. But that wasn’t why he was happy. No, there were many other reasons…

The bell over the doorway rang, indicating that someone had come in. “Good afternoon,” he called out. As he was behind a shelf, he couldn’t see the customer and the customer might not see him.

“Bowman?” a voice called back. “Good afternoon. It’s Ashton.”

The pharmacist smiled. “Ashton? Well it’s good to see you again.” He left his notebook where he was counting and came out to greet his friend. But something strange immediately struck him. The young man seemed healthy… save for the pair of dragon heads that were coming out of his shoulders. “I’m sure this has some interesting explanation behind it.”

Ashton blushed, but smiled. “Oh them, yeah. Well you figured it out back in Herlie. The Lasguss phoenix… in exchange for healing Eleanor, it caused me to become possessed by this two-headed dragon. She’s going to live a healthy life now, which is good. I’m stuck with these two for the next year. But I’ve already made up my mind to deal with it and do what I can even if I must work around them.”

“I see.” Still, he was concerned. Part of being a country doctor, he felt. “Are they causing you any trouble?”

“They can talk in my head and sometimes take control of my voice. They haven’t done anything really bad, not that I know of. Although they have tried to talk me into eating people, setting stuff on fire, or going back to Salva Drift.” He looked up as one of them whined. “They’ve been fairly passive the past few days, I’ll admit.”

Although he didn’t know dragons as well as people, Bowmen could tell something was off. The lavender head was draped on Ashton’s head, while the red one had its eyes half-closed and looked irritable. “They do seem lethargic. I’m not sure how to read them.” He reached up to the lavender head, but a glare from the red got him to stop.

“It seems they used to eat Energy Stone,” Ashton suggested. “I figured that’s why they seem kind of sickly now.”

He nodded. “That could be so. Being moved from their addicted body to a clean one would be a nasty jolt. Were they angry and irritable at first?”

“Gyoro here was,” he said, pointing to the red one. “Ururun has been too easily distracted to be really irritable, I think, but he got passive first.”

“Lethargic, I would say. It’s part of the process of coming off a substance addiction like that.” He rubbed his chin, thinking. “I would guess… their powers must feel considerably weaker to them, and likely are to some extent. So you can be confident that you can maintain control of your body despite the possession. This period of lethargy is likely to continue for some time, but they should be well recovered in the year that you have possession of them,” the red one snorted, “or that they had possession of you, whichever. How do you usually eat your meats?”

“Oh, well, well done mostly. Why?”

“Try eating them a little more on the rare side, gradually if you’re uncomfortable with it. You don’t have to eat raw meats, but eating rare would make them feel better, potentially getting along with you better.” Bowman chuckled. “But then, I’m no expert on possessions. I’m making educated guesses now.”

Ashton smiled. “I’d trust your guesses.”

“Thanks. And now that I’m thinking on it, I should tell you about some herbs that I know people use against dragons,” the lavender one suddenly jerked upright in fright, “so that you know to avoid them.” That one, Ururun, sighed and decided to go back to his nap.

“That’s a good idea. Oh, if you don’t mind me asking…”

“Ask away.” He looked around, reminding himself of those particular herbs.

Ashton followed him down the wall. “I’m traveling with another group now. We’re trying to make an expedition to Eluria, to investigate the Sorcery Globe. The reason we’ve come here, though, is because they found an old book in Cross Cave.”

That caused him to stop. “Cross Cave? Really?” That was an ancient and mysterious site. An old culture used it for some unknown purpose. While that could be said of any peculiar feature of the landscape, Cross Cave was special because the culture that used it had developed the heraldry arts. And it was one of the oldest cultures to leave a written record behind.

“Really. Only, they can’t read it, and the elders in Mars Village couldn’t read it. So they need to find a good linguist here. I’m afraid to say that none of us have ever been to Linga before, and I only know you here.”

“Huh. Now that’s interesting. I’d like to see that book myself. Who has it?”

“Rena does. Are you a linguist?”

He shook his head. “No, but I know the best one in town. I just want to see the thing. And since they’re friends of yours, I don’t mind helping you out.”

“Thanks, I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.”

“Good. We’ll talk about those herbs later. Nineh!”

The blue-haired woman came out from the back. “Yes dear, what is it?”

“Would you keep an eye on the store for a little while? This is a friend from Cross, Ashton. I told you about him. This would be my wife, Nineh.”

The two of them shook hands. “Good to meet you, m’am,” Ashton said.

She nodded. “You too, Ashton. What is it now?”

“An old book Keith might like, but we have to track down one of his friends first. I’ll try not to be long, honey.”

“You always say that,” she said jokingly. “Okay, be back before dark.”

He laughed at that, then they left the store. Ashton had an odd look on his face. “Is she pregnant?” he asked quietly.

Surprised, Bowman grinned. “Why yes, so she is. We hadn’t told anybody yet. And how’d you guess? She isn’t showing yet.”

He pointed up to his tag-a-longs. “The dragons said she smelled that way and…” he stopped sharply, then gave an angered look to Gyoro, who chuckled in response.

Feeling that he didn’t want to know what the dragon had told Ashton, Bowman let that go. “But please do keep it to yourself,” he said, quieter than before. “We’ve had difficulties before with having children, so we’re trying not to let too many people know and get all excited again. But we can’t stop hoping that this time will be different.”

“I see,” Ashton said in a sympathetic tone. “Well I’d wish you luck, but given how abysmal my own is, I’d better not.”

“Thanks for the thought anyhow.” He then spoke up to change the subject. “Shall we check the library and university first? If they’re looking for a translator, that’d be the obvious starting point.”

“Right.”

There was a problem with this, Bowman realized. This was the time of year the students were taking final exams. Thus, the university itself would be quiet and hostile to any interruptions. The library was the better place to start. That was the building with the rounded interior, to the right of the blockier main building.

Inside the library, Ashton spotted one of his friends and excused himself to go get her. Bowman went up to the librarian. “Hey, got a moment?”

The young man working the desk got up quickly. “Oh, yes Professor Jeane. What is it?”

Bowman rolled his eyes. “I am not a professor,” he said, keeping his annoyance to a minimum. It was nice that people respected his abilities, but he didn’t want to be associated with the stuffy homebodies that the university tended to employ. “But I am looking for one. Is Keith in today?”

Adjusting his glasses, the library assistant shook his head. “No sir. He’s been at home for the past two weeks doing some work for the castle, so his assistants have been testing the students. He said he didn’t want to be disturbed.”

“Two weeks, huh? Well I’ll be disturbing him. Thanks.” He turned to find Ashton coming back over with a blue-haired teenaged girl. “Hi there. One of Ashton’s friends, right?”

She smiled. “Right.”

“This is Rena Lanford of Arlia,” Ashton introduced. “And this is a friend of mine, Bowman Jeane. He works as a pharmacist here.”

“Good to meet you, young lady,” he said, shaking her hand.

“You too, sir,” she said. Then she pulled out a book from her bag. “This is what we were hoping to get translated.”

“I see.” He took the book, curious.

“Be careful with it,” Rena said. “It hasn’t torn yet, but it might.”

“Right.” He opened it gently and looked over one of the pages. There was a drawing along with the text, of what seemed to be a city plan. It didn’t look immediately familiar.

“Can you read it?” she asked.

Bowman shook his head and closed the book to hand it back. “No, I can only read certain languages. But this does look like the kind of thing Keith would love. Well put it in your bag for now. I’ll introduce you to him.”

“Thank you; it’ll help a lot.”

“You’re welcome. As a friend of Ashton’s, you’re a friend of mine. Come on. I’m a little concerned about him anyways. That man would work himself to death if people let him.”

Several minutes later, they were in the center part of town. Keith lived in a house set back along the curve the main street of Linga took in running around. It was partly blocked of by a large sign advertising the general store that served the university students and professors. Bowman, Rena, and Ashton went up to this house.

After a few knocks, Bowman frowned. “What is he up to?” he muttered. Then he banged loudly on the door, hard enough to make it shudder. “HEEEYYY KEEEIIITHH! Answer the door, will you?”

“Hold on,” a grouchy voice answered. The door opened, revealing a man with black hair and pale skin. In the daytime sun, his eyes winced. “Who’s making all that racket… oh, Bowman? What brings you here?”

Bowman crossed his arms over his chest. “You, sir, need to get out of the house more often. I heard you haven’t been seen in classes for two weeks.”

Rubbing his forehead, Keith replied, “I’m busy. I’ve got a big job from the castle…”

“Sounds exciting,” Bowman said sarcastically. “You sound so thrilled.” Then he narrowed his eyes. “It isn’t healthy for you to stay shut up in this old house for that long. Seriously, you ought to get a wife who’ll keep better tabs on you.”

He blushed, but tones of anger came in his voice. “Bowman, is that all you came for?”

“No.” He looked back to Rena, who came forward. “I’ve got another translation job for you if you’re up to it.” While the girl started to bring the book back out, Bowman held his hand up for her not to. She gave him a puzzled expression. “Tell him about it first.”

“Oh, okay,” Rena said. She looked to Keith. “Professor, we were on an expedition into Cross Cave over a month ago.”

That immediately got his attention, getting him to open the door wider and come closer. “Cross Cave, is it?”

She nodded. “Right. We were with the crown prince of Cross… and the woman who’s now the crown princess of Cross. They had bought a map of the cave system, which led us to a new chamber deep within. She found an old book that interested her, but neither she nor the elders of Mars could read it. I brought her letter.” When Bowman didn’t make a sign against that, Rena brought out the letter and handed it to Keith.

To their credit, the letter did indeed have the official seal of Cross royalty. Keith looked over it with some disbelief, then strong interest. “My word… We’ve known that Cross Cave was a mysterious place and there had to be secrets left within it. It’s one of the oldest sites of civilization on all of Expel. This could be an incredible discovery… so where is the book?”

“She has it,” Bowman said. “But first, I said you need to get out of the house, and I’ll make you. Grab some food from your pantry and we’ll throw together an outdoors dinner at our place tonight.” He looked back to Ashton. “Who else is with you and where are there?”

“Two others,” he said. “I’m not sure where they are.”

“I can’t say about Opera,” Rena said, “but I saw Claude talking to that orange-haired girl. The one with the running metal thing.”

That narrowed it down immensely. Bowman nodded. “Ah, that would be Precis. Well it wouldn’t hurt to invite them over too. Come on, get something, and then we’d better head back over to my place to let Nineh know.”

Keith sighed, but ended up with a half-smile. “Bowman, you’re a tough man. I should have a bag of rice that’s still good.”

“BOWMAN!!!” a voice that was unmistakably Precis called out. She was running down the street, although only her little metal buddy was with her. “There's some guy who got brought into town by a big bunny! And he doesn't look too good.”

“Hooo boy, I was hoping for an evening off,” Bowman said, but waved to her. “All right! Does the bunny still have him?”

“Yeah!”

“Good, then lead it up to my place.”

Strangely enough, it turned out to be someone that his visitors knew: a dazed young swordsman with long blue hair.


	19. Slug Guts

-4D, chatroom

Dano: You holding up all right? I heard you got downed.

Jeb: I'm all right now, although it was the worst incident I've been in. The doctors were surprised to hear that it was Energy Stone exposure to my Sphere character; usually doesn't affect the player as badly.

Dano: I heard it could make you dizzy in 4D.

Jeb: This was painful, more akin to demonic possession. Which I have experienced before, but again, this somehow was worse. And I have no clue when I can get back into Ernest's character.

Dano: that's a real shame.

Jeb: So how are you doing? Dias seemed in bad shape.

Dano: Well I don't think he'd be in as bad a condition as Ernest is. I've not got any flags of possession on him; just waiting on him to wake up now.

Jeb: I see.

Dano: I was hearing echos of those illusions for a couple minutes, but drugs my butler robot could provide took care of that.

Jeb: I never like days like that. I'm still restricted on how much time I can spend in ES, but I have some left today. I'll wait for Dias to get back up too.

Dano: All right. Good to know that he's in Bowman's care.

Jeb: I heard that you've got quite a following now after that incident.

Dano: Well it's not what I thought would become popular and get me the top prestige slot. I mean, slowly going delusional in a swamp where he was after his greatest foe yet, and then such a quick end to his life's quest.

Jeb: I think people are interested in the struggle. Plus, it helps that you're so skilled as a player to guide Dias to the point where that fight was disappointing.

Dano: I guess. It also got somebody accusing me of kill stealing.

Jeb: Really? You'd think people would know better than to accuse that for something within normal play.

Dano: I don't expect to get any warnings about it. After all, he said he was building a story between Zand and some guy named Yul, by playing both. But if that's the goal, anybody would say work in a closed setting, not the open ES.

Jeb: I don't think I've done anything significant enough to trigger jealousy like that, so I'd call that proof of doing well.

Dano: In a way. How's the rest of your family doing?

Jeb: They're happy I'm doing well. Penny's got her robot dog up and running, but still tweaking it for her school's science fair. She's going to adapt it to fly, of all things.

Dano: That sounds like a mess waiting to happen.

Jeb: (laughs) She's that way on her own.

Dano: hah.

Jeb: What about your family?

Dano: I live on my own. Haven't heard from my parents in years, actually. They took off on vacations to all sorts of resort planets.

Jeb: Ah. I always thought it would be nice to take a vacation away from Delrina, but I don't know about living like that. Plus we wouldn't want to leave now, since we're trying to give Penny every chance she can get to have a permanent job.

Dano: That's a good reason.

Jeb: You all right living on your own?

Dano: I've been fine with it, mostly. But I'm thinking of putting in a marriage request.

Jeb: that'll do you good, I'm sure.

Dano: Maybe. I talked about it with CJ and Nancy the other day; it was a disappointment to hear that it's just going to be an assessment and assignment.

Jeb: Do a dating sim in the Sphere; that's the best way.

Dano: It'll looking more and more like that is the better option.

Dano: Hold up; Dias is going to be awake soon.

Jeb: All right, I'll meet you in the Sphere.

Dano: Not exactly alert yet. Close enough, I think See you there.

* * *

 

-Dias, Jeane Pharmacy

“Cecile,” Dias said softly, finding it hard to call out. It was hard to run too. Being thick and damp, almost alive, the ground kept trying to swallow him whole. He kept trying to run.

“Big brother, where are you?” Cecile replied, her form far ahead, still shining. How did she get through this ground? And fast enough to stay ahead of him? But she was in danger wandering around here on her own. He had to protect her... catch up to her somehow.

“But she's dead and you'll never ever reach the place where she is. The blood you've spilled weighs you down.”

“I killed monsters,” he tried to argue. All of them were monsters, especially Zand.

Zand laughed at him. “Perhaps you got rid of me, but what about the rest? There will always be monsters. We will always hunt the weak. You can't stop us all. You can't even save yourself. Drown in the dirt and stay in this hellish swamp forever.”

“No,” Dias said, gritting his teeth and trying to continue. “I'll... protect her.”

“Big brother?” Cecile called, somehow closer now. “I'm in a safe place. I'm waiting for you. Rena's still down there. Protect her, okay? I want to see my best friend and my big brother again. You're a good person. Please, for me?”

Leave her? “Cecile...” he mumbled, his vision growing hazy. The swamp surrounded him.

Or did it? The pressure on his back felt soft, but dry. Dias rubbed his eyes and opened them, seeing a wooden ceiling. Sitting up, he found himself in a small bedroom in a simple bed; a row of cabinets ran along another wall, while an early afternoon sun came in through a window. He seemed to be clean, smelling of soap rather than swamp. Instead of his armor and gear, he was wearing the simple gown of a sick person.

What happened to him? His head hurt a little, but his body felt fine otherwise. Dias did find some new wounds; things weren't clear past Zand's death, but it seemed getting out of the swamp had been rough. But to be cleaned up and cared for like this, someone had to have found him. That was embarrassing, to be found in a weakened state. What day was it? He didn't want to miss the Tournament of Arms.

He was reluctant to leave the room in this gown, so he left the bed and searched the cabinets. The tall one in the corner held his things, also cleaned up. After getting dressed in his own clothes, Dias took inventory of what he had. Everything seemed to be in place... but he did have two extra items. One was a gold ring on a chain; the seal on the ring was that of Zand. If he had this, then it was true that he had killed the bandit king. That was a relief. The other item was a small tassel of rabbit fur, something that he usually wouldn't hold onto.

Someone knocked on the door, then entered. It was a middle-aged man with messy brown hair; he had the physique of a lean boxer, excellent shape for his age. “Hey, nice to see you energetic,” he said, closing the door behind him. “I'm Bowman Jeane, healer and pharmacist, and you're staying in my home. Do you mind holding off on the armor until I can check you over for any lingering problems?”

“Fine,” Dias said. If it was for a healer, then he could hold off on preparing. “I'm Dias Flac. What happened to me?”

“I was going to ask you that myself,” Bowman said, opening a drawer to take out some equipment. He came back over and started by squeezing his wrist to check his heart rate. “A big bunny brought you into town delirious with a curse. From the state of your gear and the type of curse, I figured that you were in Smokey Swamp. It's a dangerous place; eroded your anti-illusion crystal to mere charcoal. I had to knock you out with some herbs to get you to be still long enough to recover.”

“How long have I been asleep?” And how long had he been in the swamp? If he missed the Tournament of Arms, that was going to make him angry. But having been rescued by a big bunny made sense of the rabbit fur charm. They liked giving those away and many people felt that having one would increase luck. Dias would only use them for the extra cash in getting them to those people.

“Three days,” he said, making some notes in a small record book. “Not entirely asleep, but I could tell you weren't capable of doing anything. What do you remember?”

Did he really have to talk about it with a stranger, even a healer? Maybe not everything. “I went into the swamp after Zand. After at least several hours following the planks he laid in a path, I found that he had gone paranoid and killed his followers. I killed him, and then I’m not sure what went on. Although I went alone, people seemed to be talking to me.”

“Trying to lure you into the swamp depths?” Bowman said knowingly. “That would be the local demons, which try to kill those who enter for food. Fortunately they don't leave the swamp, so you're safe as long as you don't return. They get pissed at anyone who escapes their domain and make sure to torment those foolish enough to return.”

“I have no reason to go back,” Dias said. “Is the Tournament of Arms still coming up? I was almost finished with registration when I heard about Zand.”

Bowman nodded. Good. “You've still got eight days to finish, so you'll be wanting to get up to Lacour soon, I guess. If you don't mind waiting a day, I'm going up there myself tomorrow to prepare the healer's station. Your friends are coming with me.”

“Friends?” Dias asked. Was she here? What for? “You mean Rena?”

“Yes, they've been worried about you,” Bowman said, confusing Dias a little. By 'they', did he mean that odd guy Claude and the rude woman Celine? Last he heard, Celine had married Prince Clothier. Not that it really mattered, but it was a big part of gossip since he had last seen them. “But two of them are also in the tournament and they're all preparing for a dangerous trek into Eluria. Courageous of them; wish I could go along, but I've got the business to look after.” He smiled at that.

Two in the tournament... their group must have grown, because women wouldn't be able to enter. But if he agreed to travel with them to the castle tomorrow, he'd get a chance to speak with Rena. After what he'd been through, that would be good. “I see. I'd be fine traveling on my own, but it would be faster to wait and go with you.”

That made the healer chuckle. “Well I wouldn't advise that much activity so soon after waking up like you have. You need to rouse your muscles after that long sleep, especially if you're going to be in tournament shape in a week. I know, you can help me make deliveries in town and stock up the cart for the tournament; that should be good activity for you. Your friends are out at Linga Sanctuary, using that wild place to practice their skills. They should be back in time for dinner.”

“Sure, I have to pay you back somehow,” Dias said. Since he was normally fine on his own, he didn't keep a lot of money; it was nothing more than extra weight. Although at times like this, it was troublesome living like that.

“All right, we've got a deal then. Now I need to check your mental state, so please be honest with me. We want to make sure that the curse hasn't dug into your thoughts where it can wreak havoc later on. I swear on my honor as a healer that nothing you say will leave this room unless you bring it up again.”

Dias did not like that. However, he hated the thought of a curse lingering over him, especially at a vital time like the tournament. “Fine, I don't want to be cursed.”

The first set of questions was innocent enough, making sure that he could still reason and recall things. Then he had to ask what Dias didn't want to answer. “What kind of contact did you have with the swamp demons?”

Somehow, he thought of what Cecile had said in the last part of the dream. You are a good person. Protect Rena. Which pushed him to be honest and make sure he was completely clear of the curse. “They took the forms and voices of my family, sometimes mocking me and sometimes trying to call me to them. It was ridiculous, because they died a few years back over on the Cross continent. There's no way they'd be over here.”

“They do tend to pick forms that are most cruel to their victims,” Bowman said sympathetically, which annoyed Dias a bit. He didn't need the sympathy or pity of others. Even if it was nice sometimes (he just wasn't going to show it). “Did they say anything particularly troubling that still concerns you?” His eyes were on a piece of equipment he seemed to be using to detect traces of curse energy.

Dias closed his eyes. “They told me to come to them, but then would say that I would never be able to reach them, because all I'm good at is killing things.”

“Do you believe that?”

“I spent the years since their deaths practicing my father's sword techniques, so I could master them,” he said. “'One strike to end the fight,' he would say, and that's exactly how Zand went down. But it's not that good for protecting someone else, just protecting yourself. And I can survive in the wilderness well; I spent months on my own in the Laguss Desert and Mountain Pass preparing, rarely going into towns. But there's not much else.”

“Being able to survive like that is quite an accomplishment,” Bowman said. “Not just anybody can keep themselves safe in a dangerous place like Lasguss Desert. You can always try picking up a few other skills if it bothers you.” He set the tool aside and made notes. “Well on my examination, I can't find any trace of the curse left within you. It wouldn't hurt to be checked out by a priest or divine healer, though. Always nice to have a second set of eyes when looking into a problem. And if you want my opinion, I think you ought to stick with your friends for a little while. They're a good group and it's not healthy to always be alone.”

“I'll consider it,” Dias said. It depended on who was with Rena.

Although the examination was done, Bowman sat on the bed and kept talking with him. It was a bit of a bore; the man offered lots of advice even when not asked for it. But now that the person he had focused his hate and energy on was gone and he wasn't sure what to do, Dias found himself listening more than he would have previously.

* * *

 

-Precis, Linga Sanctuary

This adventure was so exciting! Sure, it was just nearby to Linga Sanctuary, where she often went with Bowman and Nineh to harvest herbs and minerals. But she had her punching hand ready for battle. Precis would push the buttons and KER-POW! The monsters were be sent sprawling to the ground, shocked that such a cute small girl bowled them over so fast. And Bobot had his mapping talent working great, so they could explore even further than usual.

But most of all, she was on this adventure with the absolutely dreamy Claude! He was just as good a fighter as she thought he would be. He had been practicing this amazing leaping attack that, through use of heraldic energy, allowed him to cross a battlefield quickly and hit the monsters from above. Sure, his friends were great too, like how Opera caused her weird club to shoot things, and Ashton performed real magic with his blades, and Rena had spells that she didn't think were even possible. However, Claude was the greatest of them all.

Watching him, she had been trying to figure out in her head if she could do special attacks too. She was a kind of fighter too, wasn't she? At least in using her punching hand. But how did she get the machinery to use magic? Bobot could do that, sometimes. She had some ideas... there'd at least be plenty to try out when she got back to her workshop!

Not that there was much time to watch during this fight. They had gone so far back that they had found the bones of dragons and giants, still standing around. While the skeletons had not come back to life (thankfully), they had gotten jumped by these weird monsters that looked like giant slugs, mottled in green and blue. The giant slugs looked mostly disgusting and not so much dangerous at first. But then one had opened its mouth like a huge door and chomped right down on her, swallowing Precis whole. It was dark, damp, and squishy, ick.

“Let me out of here,” she shouted, kneeling as its body cavity kept shrinking. She punched at it from inside repeatedly, but did little more than keep it from crushing her entirely.

Finally, something tore through its body, destroying it and giving her light. Precis scrambled towards the light, climbing out of the dying slug while Opera made sure it died. “I knew you were giving it a good fight in there,” she said. “The way it kept bulging out, it must've had an uncomfortable case of indigestion.”

Despite feeling a bit slimy, Precis smiled. “Hah, yeah, I’m not gonna give up just cause it swallowed me. But it was gross!”

“What were those things?” Rena asked. It seemed as though the other two were dead too. “I've never seen anything like them.”

“Nothing quite on that scale,” Opera said.

“I've seen something like them,” Ashton said, seeming uneasy. “But, it was in Eluria after the Sorcery Globe fell. I wouldn't think creatures like that could come so far without others.”

“Then we'll have be cautious of them when we go, in case they try swallowing people again,” Claude said.

That was new. She'd knew they had been training for the Tournament of Arms, something she normally didn't even think of but now really wanted to see. But they were going to see the Sorcery Globe too? “Huh, you guys are going all the way up there?” Precis asked.

Claude nodded. “Yes, we've been asked to go investigate the Sorcery Globe. Of course, it's been some time since we started, and there's been nothing but delays and detours ever since...”

“Disasters too,” Rena said, her hand on her silver-green pendant. It had flashed brightly right before the monsters arrived, but seemed to be barely glowing now. “It's almost like someone knows and is doing everything they can to delay us from arriving.”

“Oh my gosh, that is so awesome!” Precis said, jumping in place. The others looked at her like she was odd, but she was used to that. “Can I come too? I really want to go see it, please?”

“What about the Sorcery Globe is awesome?” Rena asked, confused. “It's bringing demons into the world and causing earthquakes.”

“Well yeah, that's a rotten bit,” Precis admitted. “But, but, all the machines we have in Linga now are here because a big thing dropped out of the sky! And the Sorcery Globe is even bigger and more powerful than the last one. There ought to be more stuff inside of it; just imagine all the incredible things we could build when we study it! I was just a little kid during that last one, so I really really really want to go see this one!”

“Hard to say if that argument would hold water, but it could be possible,” Opera said.

“I don't know,” Claude said. “You're certainly handy in a battle, but it's going to be dangerous.”

“That's okay,” Precis said, crossing her fingers and hoping they'd say yes. “I've been training to be an adventurer under Bowman, so I'm prepared!”

“But what about your father?” Rena asked. “Would he let you go? And aren't you worried about leaving him alone?”

She hook her head. “He'll be fine. But I'll talk to him when we get back to town and get permission if I need it. So can I, huh, please?”

After glancing around to see if anyone really objected, Claude said, “All right, if your father lets you, it should be okay. From what I’ve seen today, I don't think you'd get in the way.”

“Yes! Thank you thank you!” She bounced over and hugged him. “I'll really help the team out!”

“Yeah, but you can let go of me, please,” Claude said, not quite comfortable with the hug.

Precis jumped back and put her hands up. “Oh, I’m sorry! I must smell like slug guts, don't I? I didn't think about that.”

“Yeah, we should all probably get back to wash up after this,” Rena said, smiling but shaking her hands to get rid of the slime too.

* * *

 

-4D, chatroom

(Jeb has entered chatroom)

(Dano has entered chatroom)

Jeb: What's going on?

Nancy: hey hon; we have to talk about Penny taking a quest.

Penny: It doesn't seem like a big deal.

CJ: It's taking you outside of the area your guardians' characters are in, so you need another guardian.

Ashe: You can't really think about implications while immersed, so this happens easily.

Jeb: What quest is she taking?

Penny: She wants to join Claude and the others to investigate the Sorcery Globe. I want to do it too; I didn't think I could get on a quest so interesting and big.

Nancy: It does seem like something Bowman would join normally, but not now.

Jeb: Right. He'd like to, but since they're expecting again, he has stronger ties to stay in Linga.

Nancy: And I believe we have everyone in that group here unless anybody knows who's got Rena and Claude.

Ashe: No clue. But I'm also not old enough to help her, sorry.

CJ: I would like to, but...

Jeb: Is your restriction going to block it?

CJ: Afraid so. And I know someone who might be able to figure out who has those two, but I don't know him well. Unless their players pop up to claim them, we won't be figuring it out any time soon.

Dano: I've not had a ward in game, but I believe I'm eligible for that. Let me check.

Jeb: Is Dias going to go that far with them, though? He's a pretty strong loner.

Ashe: Yeah, from what I've seen of him, Precis would annoy him.

Penny: She annoys a lot of people, haha. But I have so much fun with her.

Dano: True, but he wants to follow Rena for at least a little bit. And if I get tagged as Precis' guardian and she goes too, then the ES should nudge him into joining the group.

Dano: He just won't be happy about it.

Jeb: Hah, well he could stand to be shoved out of his comfort zone.

CJ: Aw yeah, this is going to be a blast now!

Dano: Okay, looks like I am qualified. Does that work?

( _Dano has offered taking Penny as a ward.)_

Penny: Yay!

( _Penny accepts Dano's offer)_

Penny: I'm sure Precis can get permission to go too.

( _Jeb accepts Dano's offer)_

( _Nancy accepts Dano's offer)_

CJ: Great!

Ashe: This is going to be a fun quest. Are you going to be the leader, CJ?

Penny: Yeah, she's cool!

Dano: I have no issue with that.

CJ: Aw, thanks guys.

CJ: Well in-game, I think that Claude would be the group leader. Everyone looks up to him or finds him dependable. Or is Dias.

Dano: heh.

Ashe: Good point.

CJ: But since we don't know who's playing Claude, seems like I'm the leader on this side.

Nancy: Can we be part of your group, even if Nineh and Bowman are staying home?

CJ: Of course! I wouldn't dream of leaving you two out.

Ashe: And if Ernest comes through, he'd probably join us too.

Jeb: No kidding; you'd have to fight to keep him out of it.

Nancy: Then all we're waiting on is to make sure that Precis' dad gives the okay.

Penny: It'll happen!

* * *

 

-Precis, Linga

“Okay, gotta stay cool and collected,” Precis told herself as she approached her house. There were other people in the street, but they didn't give so much as a glance to her. In Linga, a person talking aloud to themselves was rather ordinary and one was not to eavesdrop too much. Or interrupt. “Gotta convince the old man to let me do this. Maybe I shouldn't mention that I want to go partly for Claude.” She giggled. “Or mostly. Nope, gotta be convincing, logical, and scientific about it. That should work.”

With the eccentric personalities attracted to the university, no two houses were alike in Linga. Precis like to think that her house was even more different than any others. Filled with strange devices and machines that her father Professor Nuemann kept from the fallen star years ago, there was always something in action. Lights kept away the darkness, a lift in back effortlessly replaced stairs, a strange picture frame constantly changed itself and spoke in stranger words, objects moving. Sometimes, they even figured out what a machine was supposed to do by watching it work long enough. The people who lived in the sky, the only place the star object could have come from, were spectacularly amazing. Precis wished often that she could learn from them.

Her father was at the large square table they used to work and eat on, examining a glowing light. But it didn't look like the others around the house. “Hey old man, whatcha got?” she asked, going to the table and putting her hands on it to get a closer look.

“It's a sun catcher lamp,” he said, his eyes down as he wrote on a blueprint. “It's based off our generator that takes energy from the sun. You put it outside during the day and it catches the sunlight. Then you bring it in when it gets dark and it releases the light.”

“Neat, so you finally got the material like those black sheets that steal sun power?” Precis said, momentarily forgetting what she was going to ask. This sounded like a nifty device; you'd never had to go without light again! After all, the generators most towns used could fail and leave people without power and light. Not that a lot of homes had electric lights yet. It was growing in popularity.

“Mostly; I still need to refine the alchemical process. Plus, I'm having some trouble getting the lamp to remain bright and steady through a night. Last night worked out okay, and tonight might work. But I need to find a way to get the lamp to store extra sunlight, for cloudy days or areas that don't get much sun.”

“Yeah, that would help.” Then she remembered. “Oh yeah, dad? You know my new friends, the people who are staying over with the Jeanes? I found out today that they're on an adventure to go find out more about the Sorcery Globe! I really want to go with them, can I, please?”

“The Sorcery Globe?” he asked, puzzled and looking over at her.

Right, he often got so caught up in his work that he didn't pay attention to what went on outside of the house. Of course, she could be the same way at times. “Yeah! Some months ago, there was a big star that fell in the country of Eluria, just like the star that fell here in Lacour! Or, I think it's like that, because all sorts of weird things happened around it and that's why they call it the Sorcery Globe. Nobody knows what's going on in Eluria right now because it's so powerful. So, a strong thing like that has got to have some strong machines too! I want to go check them out and learn from them! My friends want to destroy it, which as long as they turn off the energy source so it can be studied safely, I think will end up working out. But they're going to be leaving town tomorrow, and if I'm gonna join them, I have to go then too. So can I go with them? I'll bring back some awesome machines, I bet!”

“All the way to Eluria?” he asked, uncertain about it.

She nodded. “Yeah, that's where it fell. But I'll be okay. Bowman's been teaching me things and all my friends are really great adventurers. They've been all over the place and know lots of things. I'm gonna stick with them and do what they say, promise.” No need to mention that Rena was about the same age as she was. She'd traveled far too, so Precis could as well.

“This is rather sudden,” he said. “You should...” then he paused, twirling his pencil in his fingers and watching it.

“I know, but like I said, I won't have a chance to go with them unless I go tomorrow,” Precis said. “And they've had such trouble getting to Eluria that if I tried to go, I probably couldn't get there either. But they've got a plan to work with the king of Lacour.”

Her father looked back over at her. “Precis... sorry, I've never been good at this kind of thing. I've always been lost as to what to do with you after your mother passed away.”

“Aw dad, you're not that bad,” she said. “Though sometimes I'd rather you look at my work too.”

“I do, actually,” he said, surprising her. “I'm impressed in how far you've taken Bobot; I could get him to walk around, but nothing more until you took over. I've been thinking about that kind of thing lately, but then I'm never sure what to say. Nobody really tells you how to raise kids.”

“What's this got to do with me going to Eluria?” Precis asked. Sometimes her old man's thoughts were hard to follow. Then again, people said that about her sometimes when she was talking to them about many different things.

“I'm not sure,” he said, smiling a little. “Just where my thoughts went. I suppose you are old enough that I don't have to keep you nearby all the time. And if you're going with experienced adventurers, they should know what to do.”

“So may I go?” she asked, remembering at the last moment about proper grammar. Normally she didn't care as long as the message got across. But it might help.

“Sure, go learn about the world while you do,” he said, nodding. “It could help in your future inventing.”

Squealing in delight, she bounded around the table corner and hugged him. “Thank you! This is gonna be the greatest adventure ever!”

He put an arm around her. “Good to hear. And do make sure to bring something back so I can see them too. I'll want to hear all about what this Sorcery Globe is like.”

“Of course, I'll take lots of good notes!” Which meant that she should bring some notebooks to make a journal in, along with everything else she needed: clothes, some tools to take care of Bobot and her arm, some other tools to examine things at the site... what else would she need? She should've asked them.

But the important matter was that she'd be going to Eluria after all!


	20. Tournament Preparations

-Dias, on road from Linga to Lacour Castle

The group Rena was with had changed a lot. Celine was no longer with them, as she had stayed back in Cross. Instead, she and Claude were with a three-eyed woman, an Elurian knight that had dragon heads sprouting from his shoulders, and a hyperactive girl who was currently chatting with the three-eyed woman about machines, whatever those were. Dias felt like he'd rather be with the rude sorceress instead, as she was at least normal.

On the positive side, he got to talk to Rena again. As usual, she was doing most of the talking. They were camping alongside the road; most of the group was by the fire, but he had come over here to practice and she had followed him. Since it was dark, they could see the lights of Lacour City in the distance. They might have reached it today, but knowing that it would be a madhouse of activity, they opted not to. The night sky was brilliant. Occasionally, shooting stars could be seen streaking across the sky near the large cluster of starlight to the northeast.

“Are you listening?” Rena asked, worried.

“Yes,” Dias said, running through the motions of one technique slowly. Once he finished, he repeated it faster. His muscles were resisting still, but a couple more days of this should put him back in shape. “I don't find it surprising that it's taking you so long just to get to Eluria. You're traveling to another country, which has always taken a great deal of fuss, only now there's even more because of that demonic Sorcery Globe. Although having them show up and destroy Clik like that is unusual.”

“At least we got some good people to join us,” Rena said. “I was confident that Claude would keep me safe, but after seeing what they can do... well it's more reassuring to have people skilled in many things. You should come with us too, then we really wouldn't have to worry about any dangers.”

“It's not that simple,” Dias said, stopping for a moment to face her. “You'd do better with someone who has talents others don't have. Like Bowman.” Although, it was something to consider. These demons had overthrown an entire continent, with one of the strongest kingdoms in the world. It presented the greatest challenge now. But he'd rather look into it alone, where he didn't have to be responsible for the safety of others.

“I'm pretty sure he won't be coming,” Rena said, smiling and scratching her head. “I probably shouldn't say... didn't mean to eavesdrop.”

“As usual?” Dias asked, making her laugh. “You've changed a lot in growing up. But some things are still the same.”

She put her hand to her mouth. “Dias, quit teasing! Although, you're the same in that way, even if you're very different from before.” Unfortunately, that killed her good mood and she shifted uneasily.

Part of him wanted to cheer her up, like he had years ago when her father died and she found out that her parents weren't her parents by birth. But if he reconnected with her only to lose her like he had his family...yet if he kept alone, the voices of his family would probably still haunt him. Whatever he did, he didn't want her to notice that his thoughts were caught in a bind like that. “I didn't get a chance to tell you yet, but when I was in the swamp, I took care of Zand. He and his gang won't be hurting anyone anymore.”

“That's good,” she said. “What are you going to do now?”

He shrugged. “My mind's on the tournament. But past that, I don't know.”

“You can still come with us,” Rena said, as he suspected she would.

“Are you sure you want me? All I'm good at is killing monsters.” Which made him a sort of monster, he felt.

“I'm sure that's not true,” she insisted, getting up from the stump she'd been on to come closer to him. “It'd be nice to have another person who's good at campfire cooking. I can manage, but I'm still adjusting to it. And Ashton can be good at it, but when he messes up it's pretty bad. Like one time, he somehow got a pot of just water to catch on fire.”

“I can manage, but it won't be anything fancy,” Dias said.

She patted his shoulder. “Hey, don't be too harsh on yourself. I'm sure if the knights had captured Zand, they would have killed him too because he would have never stopped hurting people. But you don't like hurting people, only doing so if it must be done. That means you're still good. And I know you still write poetry.”

“Nothing I'd want to share,” he said. Possibly not even with her; it was a little embarrassing.

“You used to be pretty good with a guitar,” she added, searching her memory for things. “And I'm sure lots of people can appreciate someone who can get rid of monsters, especially with the Sorcery Globe active.”

“I'm not so sure about that,” he said. “Most people don't like my attitude. Hmph, but they never give me reason to respect them like you do.”

Rena smiled at that. “Well maybe you can give them a chance too, okay? It wouldn't hurt to be a little nicer.”

He didn't really agree, but Dias also knew there would be no talking Rena out of that idea. “Maybe, if they meet that.”

“Oh, here you two are,” Claude said, walking towards them. But not from the campfire. “Anything going on in this area?”

“There's some wolves watching us,” Dias said. “If they're plain animals, they shouldn't approach the fire. But I'm assuming they're demonically turned, just in case. I'll see about driving them off once others start going to sleep.”

“I hadn't noticed wolves,” Rena said, glancing around worriedly.

“They won't make a sound unless they want you to know they're there,” he said.

“Maybe we should tell Bowman about that,” Claude said. “He might know something more besides the fire to keep them away. “

That was a rather sound idea, Dias thought. He hadn't been around the pharmacist much, but already noted that he was resourceful. Not that he would tell Claude that he had a good idea. “Yeah, I'll ask him,” Rena said, walking back to the campfire.

“I suppose she'd be safe as long as you were here,” Claude said.

“Not necessarily,” Dias said. “But safer than alone, I'll give you that. Don't be jealous.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Claude said, scratching his head. Probably turning pale at being caught like that too. “Why would you say that?”

“I saw how you looked when she was talking with me on the trip up here,” he explained, going back to making his sword motions slowly. “You must have noticed that she's open to all people. She cares too much to keep her attention to one person.”

“That she does,” he agreed.

He held his sword out horizontally in front of his face, examining the edge by the moonlight. This was the Hope of Breeze, the sword his father used and his father before him used. As a weapon truly worthy of the Lacourian reputation, he wanted to see nothing less than this level of quality for his tournament weapon. Why was that so hard for them? Money-grubbing wastes... “It goes further for me because I've always been her big brother. The only reason I'm here with all of you is because I needed to talk to her.” Well, maybe that was an exaggeration. Sparing his energy on this trip for practice after being out cold for three days was a suitable reason.

“Oh, I see,” Claude said. “Then, you know about her being adopted?”

“Of course.” There was the armor and items to think of too. If his thoughts were right, then those could help tip the favor if talents were matched. He hoped he'd meet someone who could match him. Certainly his opponents would have the advantage that he wasn't out to kill them.

“She came with me originally because she hoped she might find information on her birth parents while we traveled,” he said.

“That doesn't surprise me.” And she must not have found much, because she surely would have said something about that.

“No luck so far on that end,” Claude said, stating what Dias realized. “Or on the Sorcery Globe, really.”

“Is your mind drifting tonight?” Dias asked, resheathing his sword. “You should focus on what's before you, the tournament.”

“I suppose I should, this week anyhow,” he said, although not very convincingly.

That was no good. Well, it wouldn't hurt to give him some incentive. “We're in the same challenge. You had better be able to show your best there.”

“Why's that?” he asked.

“So I can see if you're worthy of being with my little sister,” Dias said simply. “Don't disappoint me by showing me less than your full effort. I won't go easy on you for that reason.”

“But she's bothered by that,” Claude said. This worry sounded like he'd been spinning it in his head for a while.

It bothered him too, but it wasn't going to stop him. “I'd be more worried if she wasn't. But this is the way of life we decided on once we took up the sword, cutting off cowardice to make the world a little safer. Am I right?”

He didn't answer for a moment. “I suppose so. Hadn't thought about it that way, but here... yes, that'd be why.”

“That's not why you fight?” Dias asked, looking at him.

His stance suggested unease; he seemed to be thinking of how to say one thing without saying another. “I only really started with that when I got to Arlia. And I have other reasons for looking into the Sorcery Globe incident too, but making the world a little safer, yeah, that's part of it.”

“What are you hiding?” It was hard to tell because of the distance from the campfire, but it seemed like Claude was telling the truth. Dias hoped he was. But he didn't want to leave Rena in possible danger if Claude was hiding something from everyone.

Claude shook his head. “I can't explain it. There are rules against disclosing that kind of information to others. If I told any of you, I'd be in serious trouble when I got back home.”

He was troubled in just saying that, Dias noted. Then perhaps he wouldn't mind telling them if it wasn't for those rules. “Fine. But if it's something that hurts Rena, you can count on me being angry at you.”

“I'm sorry,” Claude said, putting his hands in his pockets and, for some reason, looking up at the stars. Then he glanced back at noisy footsteps coming their way.

“Good, you two are still here,” Rena said, coming back from the fire. “Bowman says that he's going to put an herb in the fire that should keep monsters away, but you should give the wolves a scare and see if they are monsters rather than animals.”

“Will do,” Dias said. Suspecting that Claude might return to his mysterious home on his own, he added, “And keep this boy at arm's length; there could be trouble for getting too close to him.”

“Huh?” she asked, looked at him, then Claude. “What were you two talking about?”

“Just, things,” Claude said, looking down from the sky.

* * *

 

-CJ, 4D

“You seem happy today,” the robotic butler said.

“Of course I am,” CJ said cheerily. It helped that the robot was acknowledging that; that could only be a good sign. “The restriction is being reviewed, which means that I could get back into Celine soon. And Opera's going to be on a big quest with characters from a whole group of friends, and I've done some good progress with the needlework. Then it's all topped off by that interview from the Eternal Sphere news, which should be coming up soon.”

“I'll get the news program running,” the butler said, ordering a screen to appear in the dining room to tune into the show.

She twirled the spaghetti on her fork, making sure to get a good portion of the meat sauce too. At least, the dinner looked, smelled, and tasted like spaghetti with meat sauce, and a sweet potato on the side. It was really food blocks containing exact amounts of nutrients reformatted into the meal. That didn't matter when the food blocks could be made to seem exactly like the real thing, even to multi-step cooking with a chance of failure if one so wished. “I have every reason to be happy, and hope things keep going well.”

“Don't overdo things,” her butler warned.

“Oh please, it's not like there's any real aging anymore,” she said. If there was, she would've died many decades ago.

Although their Sorcery Globe investigation group had only truly formed a couple days ago, word had already spread through the message boards and chat rooms about it. With three of their members in the Tournament of Arms, they were bound to get the attention. This led the Eternal Sphere news show to contact her for a piece about the events on Expel. That was bound to help convince the medical network to lift the restrictions. All she needed now was approval of the special event message board she had requested for them to prove without a doubt that she was involved with important events. Of course, getting the board while she had the restrictions was a potential problem. Hopefully the extra weight of having the high prestige player Dano being her right hand man would help.

She expected the piece to be on later in the show. After all, Expel wasn't all that popular. Instead, it was announced right at the start, as their main piece. “Have you heard of the world Expel on the Milky Way Galaxy server? Probably not; it gets little attention due to being a pre-space civilization, but is much beloved by those who inhabit it. However, this little planet may become the site of the next big hit with a series of fascinating major events set to roll within days.

“Things start off with a roar with the Tournament of Arms being held in the Kingdom of Lacour, a huge event that gets international attention on a planet where traveling from town to town is still a long ordeal. However, this is only the staging ground for the true event: the conflict surrounding an OoPA known as the Sorcery Globe, which crashed onto the planet almost eight months ago setting off a cascade of disasters all over Expel. The Kingdom of Lacour seems to be building a secret weapon that may turn the tides against these demonic invaders. However, the focus is gathering quickly around a small group of adventurers participating in the Tournament of Arms, with aim at getting royal assistance to travel to the Sorcery Globe site. Their fame and prestige is growing rapidly, as even a new special event forum just for them has sprouted up.”

“What, the board got approval already?” CJ asked, dropping her fork on her plate.

And it seemed they had, as they showed the board she had worked on and sent in for approval in the background. Over it, they had a text scroll of her interview. As a matter of privacy and security, the news programs rarely had audio or visual of regular citizens. But it was unmistakably her words there: 'We're playing as a ragtag group of misfits and adventure seekers, out for the thrill of it for the most part. Still, as players and characters, we care very deeply about Expel and we'll go to our very limits to make the world peaceful again.'

“I have just gotten notice that the board has been approved,” her butler said. Curious, that the news network found out before the robot did. But what did it matter? They had the board and things were getting truly exciting! She might tell others that she didn't care for the attention and fame, but it was pretty nice to be acknowledged like this.

After she finished eating, she went to her gaming room to check on the board. The visitor count was quite high for such a new board, probably due to the broadcast. More surprisingly, there were a fair number who joined as followers. They could access and post on the public boards, but only members of the adventuring group could get into the hidden planning board. Although, she wasn't considering planning anything for this adventure. It seemed to be finding interesting paths on its own.

Skimming over the follower list, one name jumped out at her: Enlo. So he had already found it. Noting that he was visibly online, she sent him a message. 'Hello, wasn't expecting to see you out in public view. You didn't have anything to do with the board's acceptance, did you? -teasing wink' Then she went to the hidden forum and started up a topic. It was probably better to let the others know that she just wanted to wing it and not set things up in advance. But it was nice to have this board available so they could exchange messages even if they weren't all online at the same time.

Enlo replied back right after she posted it. 'Hello, charming. -smile Believe it or not, I only had indirect involvement in that. I do have some contacts in the Sphere Company itself. There aren't many who have the knack for reading four dimensional programming like me, but certain legal constraints keep me out of that line of work. Not that long ago, I was chatting with one of the nicest and most intelligent ladies I know, Blaire. You'll probably hear from her sometime as you're the owner of the board, since she's the company moderator and contact for it. She mentioned during our chat that she was uncertain on a particular board application. Based on what she said, I was able to guess that it involved you and so I tweaked her ear to give good word about you. Now I don't expect special treatment here for that. I simply have some personal interest in this Sorcery Globe investigation and the character I currently play isn't in a position to go there himself. I might be worrying about nothing, but I have some suspicions about these events. If they turn out true, you might find a little extra help coming from me in the future.'

“Wonder what he's talking about,” CJ murmured to herself. Then, a second message from Enlo appeared. Only, this one had an odd icon, as the envelope colors were inverted. “Could you check on that message?” she asked.

'Message investigation in progress,” the immersion machine stated. After a few seconds, it stated, 'Message is safe to examine.'

On opening it, she first found a repeat of the last message. CJ thought it might have been a mistake, but then the text disintegrated and reformed into a new one. The reason for this was soon clear: he was protecting the information from being discovered by any but her. 'Since I've got you here, you should know of my progress on Celine's case and the medical restrictions. There's firm proof that her statistics were modified by an outside source in conjecture with the medical restrictions, enough to be acceptable in court. I am having the evidence examined by another programmer; she'll mail the information to you once she does so that there's no loose ends that lawyers can pick at. On working the medical network, I've found that they have a strong system of cross-referencing; manipulating that would take many small modifications that could take some time to have a noticeable effect. I'm leery of continuing; only the most naïve or foolish of code crackers would try to make large changes in government systems.

'But there is something that you can do that is not only faster, but is completely within your legal rights as a 4D citizen in good standing. Here is a form that will allow you to request a new doctor on the grounds that your current one is bullying you with the restrictions and repeated pushes to restart despite being in excellent health. Be certain to note that Dr. Halls only declared boredom in your case and worked to make it worse by cutting down on what activities you can do. Print out a copy to keep in a safe spot and send another in. If they reject the request, then you can file a formal protest with the justice system using the request form copy, whatever papers they send you for rejection, and the programming investigation into Celine.

'Hopefully it doesn't get to that point, but if it does, you should have everything you need to prove the medical network's wrong-doing. I am also sending the doctor reassignment request form to others I believe are in a similar situation, so this will not go down quietly. Keep your chin up, beautiful. -Enlo'

“I didn't think it was possible to ask for that,” CJ said, a smile coming onto her face. There was a chance they made sure the form wasn't well-known. But, this was another way out of this mess. She wasn't ready for a life restart, so there was no need for her to keep silent about this. She opened up the form to work on, but first sent a reply to Enlo's first message. 'Thanks darling! You're a champ. Who's your character on Expel? I'm curious now. Just keep any help you give clean now; Dano's one of those super serious gamers and he might have issues with that. Talk to you later, CJ.'

* * *

 

-Dias, Lacour City

It was getting down to the last few days possible when he could sign up with a shop sponsor. More and more of the vendors were putting up signs that all their slots had been filled. Not that Dias wanted to go with most of them. Having seen the wares of them earlier, he wasn't satisfied. But that also meant that when he finally found a smith he felt was worthy to sign up with, they might not have a position open. Missing the tournament on a technicality like that would be an embarrassment.

As could be expected for the week before a big event, the marketplace was packed. All these bodies moving around in close proximity, jostling each other trying to see what was on sale, talking animatedly about gossip, trying to get through with bulky items... possibly trouble in each square foot of this crowded place. Dias didn't feel comfortable here. Recalling his times in the wilderness when days went by without seeing another soul, he felt a longing to get out of this and come at a quieter time. But time wasn't going to be easy to come by; putting this off any longer would come to hurt him.

He heard a familiar voice rising out from the crowd. Not one he wanted to hear either: Precis seemed to be pestering one of the weapon smiths about the bellows he had out in the shop booth. “No seriously, where's your real work equipment? Your bellows pump would function improperly in this state and I doubt the fire chamber could hold together under the temperature you need to shape steel.” That caused him pause; how did a girl no older than Rena know about smithing? Thinking that the crowd could cover his approach, Dias came over out of curiosity to see what was going on.

As it so happened, Rena was with Precis, but none of the rest of the group were. Dias glanced around, as he didn't like the idea of the two girls being on their own. Why did the others let them go like that? While the blacksmith was trying to talk with Precis, Dias came out of the crowd and into the booth. “What are you two doing here?” Dias asked Rena.

Startled, she put her hands up in a defensive posture (with her knuckle weapons on, which was a small relief) before she realized it was him. “Oh, hi Dias. Precis wanted to look around the market but the others were busy. She's interested in odd things, but I feel like I'm learning a lot just watching.”

“That could've been a dangerous thing to do,” he said, feeling torn about whether he should stick with the girls or not. They'd slow him down, but it'd certainly be worse if he found out they got in trouble later. “Be careful with this many people around.”

“There's lots of the Lacourian knights around too, so I think we're okay,” Rena said. “Oh, were you still looking for a sponsor?”

“Right,” he said.

That got the attention of the shopkeeper, who seemed glad to have a reason to get out of Precis' interrogation. “Oh, a potential for the tournament? We've still got a few slots left, depending what category you're in.”

Because they had recently come up or because they weren't good quality? Dias kept that thought to himself for now. “Swordsmanship.”

“I don't know about that,” Precis said. “Dias uses his sword in a way that would put tremendous stress and force on the metals. You'd really need a master of the craft to get something that can withstand that.”

The shopkeeper bit his lip and tried not to be affected by her. “Now young lady, I don't think you know what you're talking about.”

“Of course I do!” she said, her face turning pink in anger. “It's basic physics and metallurgy, duh.”

“Let me see what you have,” Dias interrupted her rant. Although, he had a feeling that he'd turn this shop down too.

“Certainly, sir,” the shopkeeper said, going over to take one of the kit boxes he had under one of the work tables. “Last swordsmanship kit we have is with a bastard sword, so it should be adaptable to whatever style you use.”

“Hmph.” A bastard sword would be rather heavy for his style, but probably easier to adapt to other methods than his katana. On being handed it, something didn't seem quite right with the weapon. Dias brought it up to examine the edges and blade. “What's the rest of the kit consist of?”

“We've got a buckler, a suit of chain mail, chain mail leggings if you want, a half helm, two defense pills and two violent pills.”

“Are those kind of drugs dangerous?” Rena asked, putting a hand to her cheek.

“Not if you're careful with them,” the shopkeeper said. “We work with an experienced pharmacist and their assistance can make a fight between varied competitors on more even grounds.”

“I don't need them,” Dias said, waving his arm out to get the others to back up a few steps. He then set the sheath onto his belt just behind his own weapon, placing the weapon inside. Then he drew it quickly and slashed it out as if to cut down a foe right in its tracks. There was a snap and the blade flew out of the handle and lodged itself into the log post of the shop booth.

“I told you so,” Precis said, stamping a foot down in vindication. “Although that was a rather unlikely consequence for it to break when he didn't even hit anything.”

“I'll pass,” Dias said, handing the handle back to the shopkeeper. The man tried to apologize, but after that failure, there was no need to try anything else he might have.

Rena and Precis followed him back into the crowd. Not so good because they weren't leaving him alone, but a little good in that they at least had someone else to watch out for them. “Well that was a bummer,” Rena said. “But I wouldn't think you'd have trouble finding a shop; any of them would be glad to have someone of your skill on their side.”

“It doesn't work out when they're not worthy of it,” he said, slowing his pace from before to make sure he stayed near them. “Unfortunately, there's not many shops left for me to choose from at this point.”

“Oh, oh, I know a great smith here!” Precis said, moving right to Dias' side and grabbing his arm. While he tried to get out of her grasp, she kept talking. “I even saw the Gamgee family at a booth not too far from here, but we were looking at other things then, right Rena?”

“Where was that?” she asked.

She pointed off into the crowd, nearly hitting someone else. “The blue tent over that way! See, a couple years back my old man needed to replace some tools for precision machine work, but the ones he'd been using had blades that nobody had been able to match. So we came up here and eventually got to the Gamgees, and they got us exactly what we needed. It was amazing, because the tools have blades that aren't any bigger than the fingernail on my pinkie finger and they have to be real sharp to cut the materials that machines use.”

“Gamgee... do they still make swords?” Dias said, finally getting out of her hold. It was a name that meant a lot to him, since it was on the smith's seal of his father's blade.

Hardly noticing, she nodded. “Yeah, yeah, they had some cool ones and the guys there answered all the questions I had about the forges and stuff back then. Maybe they're open to fighters in the tournament still.”

After a couple minutes navigating the crowd, they came to the booth covered in a blue tent roof. The men there certainly looked more like smiths than other shopkeepers. One of the largely-muscled men had a small green-haired girl, possibly only four, riding on his shoulder and trying to gather attention from the crowd. A group of women, probably their wives, were sitting to the side and chatting.

“Hey, you've got old Gramps Gamgee out too!” Precis said cheerfully to the group. “Remember me? I'm Professor Nuemann's daughter.”

“Goodness, who could forget a spunky girl like you?” the oldest of the group said. Like the others in his family, he had darkened tough skin from working the forge all his life. While his hair was thin and silvered, he still looked fit enough to hammer away at an anvil. “You actually look big enough to handle some of the tools yourself this time.”

“Haha, I have,” she said cheerfully. “Oh yeah, are you open to tournament participants? I've got a friend here looking for a sponsor.”

“Less of a friend and more keeping an eye on you girls,” Dias said.

“Yeah, like that,” Precis said, ignoring his denial.

“We have starting looking for fighters, yes,” old Gamgee said, looking him over. “But since we use traditional techniques and a great deal of attention to detail, we don't have many slots available and we only accept those whose skill meets our approval. We have one slot for Heavy Arms and one for Swordsmanship.”

Precis nodded. “Well there you go, he's said to be one of the best swordsmen in Cross, right?”

“Right,” Rena said, smiling.

“I don't know what they're basing that assumption off of,” Dias said. Maybe his slaying of monsters others couldn't handle, or maybe the few fights he'd had where he let the opponent get away because they weren't worth killing. He didn't think enough people had seen him battle to be worth the kind of talk he seemed to be generating. “But I'm picky too; I've not seen anybody that can match my father's katana yet, or even impress me.”

“We didn't make a katana for the tournament this year,” one of the young Gmagee men said. “But we make all the gear in our kits, with the women contributing some healing poultices.”

“Mind if I see your sword?” the old Gamgee said. Since he talked of traditional techniques, Dias decided it was fine to bring it out to show him. The man seemed suitably impressed. “Hmm, quite the high standard you had then. Most of the blacksmiths in Lacour these days wouldn't put this much effort and care into their craft. This is... my great-uncle Trenton's work, I can see his mark. I was one of his last apprentices, so this must be an old sword.” He handed it back over.

“Still works better than what I've seen here,” Dias said, putting the sword back. “Then what would you have me do?”

One of the others brought out the kit box to get the sword. “Take the sword we've got for the tournament and show use your standard attack, against the log we have back here.” A wooden post a foot wide set in a concrete base would be the target.

“That's all?” But it would be like a master to tell from a simple attack. “Fine.” He took the sword and pulled it out of its sheath for a look at it first.

It was also a bastard sword, with a long blade and a handle that could accommodate a one or two handed style. However, the difference in quality was quickly apparent. The blade was lighter, but its appearance suggested a much higher quality of steel being used. Only one edge was sharp, the shape of it made to withstand more use between sharpenings. The blunt edge could be used as well, for a less lethal blow if such was desired. And given how quickly he could dispatch an opponent, it might be a better challenge to set the blade to use the blunt edge instead.

Like at the other shop, he made sure he had sufficient safety space, then set the sheath on his belt to make a quick strike. The blade came out smoothly, not hindering his motions at all. Others might only see a quick flash of his blade before it was back in the sheath, and then the top two feet of the log tumbling off the ground in a clean splinterless cut.

“By thunder, none of us managed to do that,” one of the young men said, impressed.

“Told you he was great,” Precis said proudly.

“Indeed, that was excellent,” the old Gamgee said, nodding. “Quite an efficient style you have.”

“That's the point,” Dias said, turning to the master smith and handing him the sheath. “Could you redo the sheath so that the blade won't decapitate people right off?”

“Sure, that's no trouble at all,” he said, and thus their agreement was made.


	21. Lacour Tournament of Arms

-4D Sorcery Globe message board

Welcome to the board for the Sorcery Globe Investigation Adventure! We're tackling one of the biggest mysteries currently on Expel, possibly set up to fight back against demonic invaders and save the world from falling into evil. Are we up to saving our fair world from destruction? Of course we are!

Here are the current characters and their players in our group. There is no application process to join the group. New members will join strictly through game progression in the Eternal Sphere.

 

Active Adventurers

Leader- Claude Kenni (player currently unknown): The son of the famous General Roinoxis Kenni of the the Earth Federation, he's been stranded on the under-developed planet of Expel through mysterious means. Left to his own devices on a world that doesn't know of his parents, he seems to be shaping up into quite the young warrior. Will be participating in the Lacourian Tournament of Arms, Swordsmanship class.

Co-leader- Rena Lanford (player currently unknown): Although she seems to be an ordinary girl from the country, there are many mysteries the more you look at her: healing powers with no equal on Expel, unknown parentage, a mysterious pendant with unclear powers. Yet her caring and cheerful demeanor have made her many friends who are willing to help on this dangerous quest.

Opera Vectra (player- 4D group leader CJ): A sassy history and historical theory professor from the planet Tetragenes, she came to Expel in search of her boyfriend and fellow professor Ernest. Although her main goal does not involve the Sorcery Globe, she's the oldest in the group currently and with the bonds she's building, she might follow the rest all the way to their goal.

Dias Flac (player- 4D group co-leader Dano): Although renown in many lands as a master swordsman in spite of his young age, he's a loner who is only with the group to watch out for Rena, who he considers his little sister. He's completed his goal of taking vengeance on the man who stole the lives of his family, but is currently without a clear purpose as a result. Will be participating in the Lacourian Tournament of Arms, Swordsmanship class.

Sir Ashton Anchors (player- Ashe): As the last of the heraldic knights of the ruined kingdom of Eluria, he has a lot to confront in returning to his homeland on the Sorcery Globe investigation. Not to mention the pair of demonic dragons that he's currently bound to, which complicate his already bad luck even further. Will be participating in the Lacourian Tournament of Arms, Heraldic Weapons class

Precis Nuemann (player- Penny): She's an eager young mechanic in a world that still greatly favors magic and tradition, but she isn't about to let that stop her. While she's mostly interested in potential new technology from the Sorcery Globe, her scientific and mechanical talents may come in handy when those who know more advanced civilizations must watch their words to maintain galactic law.

 

Supporting Characters

Bowman Jeane (player- Jeb): He's an adventurous pharmacist with a strong flirtatious streak, but never doubt that his heart belongs entirely to his wife Nineh. Has helped out others in the group on various quests and, as a player, is a great friend.

Nineh Jeane (player- Nancy): She might seem like a mild-mannered pharmacist, but she can be a lot more mischievous than her husband when she puts her mind to it. Also a great friend as a player.

Celine Jules Cross (player- CJ): Once a world-trotting heraldic sorceress who stated that she'd never settle down, she has surprised everyone, even herself, by agreeing to marry Clothier, the crown Prince of Cross (but who will forever be her beloved Chris). Although it has yet to be seen if being a princess will manged to keep her in one place. Was once on the Sorcery Globe investigation quest, but being in a royal marriage kept her from continuing.

Ernest Raviende (player- Jeb): A madcap cross between an absent-minded professor and a daring archaeologist adventurer, he took off to Expel without warning over a year ago and has yet to return to his home planet of Tetragenes even though he's perfectly capable of doing so. We're not sure if he's going to join, but if the group runs into him, Opera will surely find some way to drag him along. Currently under demonic possession in Hoffman Ruins, unfortunately.

 

Topic: Tournament of Arms is upon us! Are you ready?

Reply #6 (Penny): This is gonna be exciting! Although it's just my character watching others, still exciting! <3

Reply #7 (Dano): It's been a long time since I last had a character in a tournament in the game rather than separate space scenarios. I hope his overconfidence doesn't screw Dias up.

Reply #8 (Ashe): Geez, I've never been in any tournament. I think he's getting the equipment from the treasury anyhow due to political reasons, but Ashton wouldn't want to disappoint anyone.

Reply #9 (Dano): He does have a larger burden for this, being the last possible representative from Eluria. It's mostly a formalized battle arrangement. But in the case of Expel, there's still a good chance of character death and severe injury here. Brace yourself for the consequences.

Reply #10 (Ashe): That's got me nervous. But I'll be trying my best to do this well.

Reply #11 (CJ): I would think that the characters in most danger of death are those facing Dias, due to his fighting style. Ashton doesn't have to worry about that ;)

Reply #12 (Ashe): There is that to be grateful for.

Reply #13 (Dano): He's using the blunt edge, so it shouldn't be that bad. Then again, he might still be able to kill like that with his skill level; not quite experienced or mature enough to hold back fully.

Reply #14 (Penny): Huh, I thought he was pretty mature.

Reply #15 (Dano): A lot of his lackings are covered up by his reluctance to speak. But then, that's coming from you and Precis is easily the least mature of the group.

Reply #16 (Penny): lol, yeah, that's true.

Reply #17 (Ashe): I dunno, Opera can be pretty immature at points and she's old enough to know better.

Reply #18 (Dano): heh, true

Reply #19 (CJ): Being older just means you know how to be immature better, darlings. :P

* * *

 

-Dias, Lacour Castle Battle Arena

The Gamgee family had pulled through admirably, not only adjusting the sheath to his request, but making sure the armor was fitted well. As Dias was used to leather armor, this metal core plate armor was a fair bit heavier. But not as heavy as it could be; there was a steel plate over his torso, but for the rest, heraldic enchantments had been inscribed to the armor and metal bands, extending the armor's protection over areas that the main armor did not cover. It would also resist common curses like poison and paralysis, which he appreciated. The fact that he had the protection of full metal plate armor with only a fifth of the weight was good too. Since it was snug, he was able to wear his usual cape and other clothes over it without much change in how he moved.

His starting competition, on the other hand, was not in as good of a shape. He had banded leather armor, a full suit of it at that, but even across this wide arena Dias noted that it wasn't fit well. As he had a moment while the announcer blathered on, he glanced around the arena to gauge the situation for this and coming battles. The floor was fairly firm and smooth, made up of compacted dirt that kicked up dry puffs of dirt to their feet. Not enough to use tactically, but a good even surface to move on. The sides of the area were made up of sturdy concrete, with steel bars forming a screen to protect the noisy audience beyond. As they had heraldic dueling and allowed special moves, Dias figured they would have heraldic shields with the bars, just in case.

As Swordsmanship was the biggest category by far, there were six rounds to fight through. Two rounds each of the three days. In between, they would have battles for the other classes which would have three or four rounds depending on the number of participants. It really wasn't much to his view. Hopefully the challenge would make up for that.

“And in our last battle for the first round of Swordsmanship, we have the fearless hero Pierre Delarock, known for keeping the port of Herlie safe from marauders, representing the store Straight, and he faces the solitary wanderer Dias Flac, spoken of in rumors as a stoic slayer of monsters, representing the Gamgee family blacksmiths. What kind of fighting will we be seeing here folks?”

“Rumors, huh?” Dias said quietly to himself. And against a local hero. Hopefully the Lacourians wouldn't hold a tournament battle against him.

After some more blather, a bullhorn sounded the start of the match. He and Pierre were about twenty feet apart, the port hero charging right at him. While he didn't know much about heraldry, he did know some magic based special attacks; Dias used the air element to slash his sword without moving from his spot. The Air Slash attack sent a piercing blade ripping across the arena and into Pierre. By seeing how he reacted to that, it should tell him more of what his opponent was capable of.

Not much, as it turned out. The attack knocked him flat on his back. The crowd was shocked too, their clamor raising as the announcer called out, “Holy smokes, are you seeing this folks? The fighters haven't even gotten in reach of each other and Dias has already blown Pierre away!”

Ignoring that, Dias walked over to him. “You going to get up?” he asked without emotion.

“Guuhh,” Pierre replied, putting a hand to his head but not getting up. “What... the... hell... hit me?”

“Ugh,” Dias replied, turning away as the bullhorn sounded the end of the fight now that Pierre had been down for a full count. This was supposed to be the grand Tournament of Arms, one of the biggest challenges for any warrior. Instead, the vast majority of the gear he'd seen was pitiful and his first battle was over in less than a minute.

Maybe it would get better tomorrow, when the chaff had been shifted out.

* * *

 

-Leon, heading to tournament infirmary

“There's been lots of good matches so far,” Florence said, offering to hold his hand as they walked down the hall. “Isn't it exciting?”

Leon flicked his ears in disinterest, but did take her hand. “It's a bunch of sweaty savages beating on each other for the entertainment of the commoners and royals. I don't see what the big deal is.” And really, some of the matches had looked so painful. Blood being spilled, maybe bones broken, that one swordsman knocked down without a chance just by the potency of a wind attack... it made him cringe to see it, even a little afraid. Not that he was going to show that. His eyes had been teary at one point, but Leon just looked down and frowned them away. He was the lead researcher, for goodness sakes! He wasn't going to let some silly battles make him look like a wimp or scaredy-cat.

When asked, he'd jumped at the chance to get out of the arena to check on the infirmary instead of watching the violence continue. For research and learning purposes, he told himself, and not because some of those fighters scared him. Now if only he could convince his mother to let him get back to the labs to continue his proper work. There was much left to be done on the Lacour Hope, which would be done much faster if the king would just let him get the needed materials already. But no, the Tournament put all the important stuff on hold.

“It's a grand tradition to show the might and power of Lacour,” his mother said. “You might appreciate it more when you get older.”

“I hope not,” Leon said, peeking around the infirmary as they entered.

Immediately, he started to regret agreeing to come here. The wounds were much worse to see up close and personal like this. Blood could show through the bandages and one unfortunate had a lump on his arm that looked quite painful even with the ice spell on it. Over at one bed, the healers were working with a man who seemed to have his arm nearly split open from the length of the wound. The sight and smell of it, something that Leon had always been acutely aware of, was sickening. He looked firmly at the foot of one bed and put his hand to his face, trying to use his own scent to mask it. And his mother's perfume, although he knew it would be embarrassing to get close enough to her for that to really work.

The man being worked on cried out in pain. “The stinging feeling means that the method is working,” one of the healers said. “Be glad we don't need to amputate this. Keep brave, fellow; just a little more. Okay, wrap this up and lay him down to recover. We'll get you some more whiskey if you need it.”

“They do what needs to be done,” his mother said quietly, leaning closer to him.

“This kind of result is exactly why this event should be abolished,” Leon said, tilting his ears back.

“Professor Jeane, how are things going in here?” Florence asked of the healer who seemed to be in charge.

“As could be expected, Dr. Geeste,” the man said. Leon looked but could not connect this sun-tanned muscular fellow with being a professor. He seemed more like the adventurers in the tournament than a professor.

“Oh please, you know you can call me Florence,” she said with a chuckle.

“And you should know better than to call me anything but Bowman,” he replied with a smirk. Then he looked down at Leon with the kind of condescending friendly face that most adults gave him before they realized who he was. “And is this your little tyke? You really ought to bulk up his diet and send him outside to get some more size to him.”

“I am not a tyke,” Leon said indignantly. “I'm a fully accredited scientist, the head researcher in the castle labs I’ll have you know.”

“That's impressive,” Bowman said as if he didn't believe it and was just humoring a kid.

“It is true,” Florence said. “He's leading one of our biggest projects as of late.”

At that, Bowman frowned. “Huh, is that so? I don't know if it's my place to say so, but aren't you putting your expectations rather high on him?”

“Not really,” Florence said, although with a bit of doubt. “I would like to see Leon involved in other activates, but he's done marvelous work so far.”

“I'm fully capable of my responsibilities, thank you,” Leon said. “And what gives you the right to judge us, huh?”

His mother nudged him. “Dear, he could've been head researcher instead if he'd stuck around the castle.”

“You know me better than that,” Bowman said. “Ever since the king axed pharmacology research, I had to get out on my own to continue my work.”

“Is that true?” Leon asked. “I think that's perfectly ridiculous. Why put all this money and focus into a blood bath when you could look into what will make people get better faster and stay well?” Or into building the weapon that would keep anybody from fighting the kingdom of Lacour ever. That would make the world far better than a dangerous tournament.

Bowman raised his eyebrows. “That's what I said, well not in those words, but it didn't fly. But hats off to you, kid, for keeping your priorities straight.”

“Yeah, I just wish people would listen to me more often,” he said, twitching his ears.

“Actually Bowman, would you be up to an errand for the kingdom after the tournament?” Florence asked. “We need to get and refine some Energy Stone from Hoffman Island as soon as we can possibly get it, but this tournament is going to keep a lot of good adventurers from being able to go soon.”

“Are we supposed to talk about that, Momma?” Leon asked. “Besides, I can handle the process myself.”

“And handle all the monsters in the ruins too?” Bowman asked. “Although, no matter how smart you are, you still seem rather young to be handling and refining raw energy stone.”

“I can do it,” Leon said, annoyed by how many times he had to insist on saying it. “I've done it three times before, so it's no problem.”

“Three times?”

Florence smiled a little sheepishly. “Yeah, it's a little hard to talk him out of something when he sets his mind to it. But he was successful all three times, without serious injury.” Minor injury, yes, but they healed up without scars.

Bowman shook his head. “As nice as it'd be to run around that place again, I’m going to have to decline. Nineh and I are heading straight back home once our tournament work is done.”

“Really, you're declining an adventure?” Florance asked, surprised. “And to go straight home with the wife even. I didn't think you were old enough to fully settle down.”

That made him laugh. “Funny, isn't it? Well we've got our reasons. You might even hear why in time. I hope you do get some young folks here to help out, though. Just make sure you're prepared to be in that place.”

“We know, there's many precautions to take within an Energy Stone mine,” Leon said.

Then several people were brought into the infirmary, apparently from some altercation in the stands. Bowman had to get back to his work and Leon didn't like watching it much, so he and his mother left. However, Florence brought him back to the arena and kept trying to get him into the 'culture' of the event. Leon didn't see any culture in it, so eventually resorted to finding a flier and sketching out ideas on the back until she let him head back down to the lab.

* * *

 

-Ashton, waiting area

Heraldic Weapons was, like last year, the smallest category with only seven competitors. And like last year, the Lacour staff favored the competitor representing their knights to be sent straight to the semi-final round instead of having to fight all three. But it was like Ashton's father had said last year: their tournament, their bias, not much that could be done without possibly insulting the Lacourian military (which was a very foolish move). He would fight fairly, by the rules of the category.

The waiting area was a large room where only tournament participants could enter. It was sparse in furnishings, with a couple of metal bunk beds, a scattering of crates, a couple of plain tables, and some stiff chairs. Due to its location, it had a ground-level view of the arena by way of a curved wall filled with those iron bars and heraldic defenses. “It's a bit like a prison in here,” Ashton said, sitting in one of the chairs with a view out to the arena. As the second day of the tournament, it wasn't as crowded as it had been the first.

“If they had the doors shut, it certainly feel like that,” Claude agreed. The matches were currently swapping between the third stage Swordsmanship matches and the first stage Heraldic Weapons. Otherwise, either of them would have preferred being in the stands with their friends. “Good grief, I don't think any of Dias' opponents have lasted more than ten seconds.”

“I know, it's crazy watching this,” Ashton said. “We fought with him a little bit, but it was always groups of monsters and I couldn't watch him fully. And just now, you could barely see his sword before the match was over. With this kind of event, most people would try to drag a battle out for the crowd.”

 _I can see his sword_ , Gyoro boasted. _It's a **** fine weapon, the kind of thing I'd be proud to have in a hoard._

 _It would be nice in a barrel,_ Ururun said.

“You think anything is nice in a barrel,” Ashton told him, getting a raised eyebrow from Claude. “They like his sword and Ururun wants to put it in a barrel.”

 _It'd need some nice soft cloth items so as not to rattle or damage inside,_ the ice dragon mused.

 _It needs to be displayed through an idiot warrior's head,_ Gyoro countered.

“And Gyoro wants to see it embedded in someone's skull,” Ashton added.

Claude grinned. “How about in a skull put in a barrel?” he suggested.

Ururun's eyes seemed to bug out more than usual. _Oh my GOD, that's the best idea ever! It'd make for a wonderful conversation piece while showing off a hoard._

Chuckling, he said, “He likes that. But first you'd have to get it from Dias and that could be difficult.”

Tilting his head, Uruun seemed to be thinking hard. _Oh yeah... maybe if we fill a barrel full of treasure and close it up, he'll exchange for it._

 _Dragons do not barter with treasure,_ Gyoro said, with a small fit of hissing. _We'll stick the sword through his skull._

“I'm not trying that,” Ashton said.

From one of the tables at the main doorway in and out of the room, there was the ringing of a bell as one of the organizers wanted their attention. “Next battle participants are Sir Ashton Anchors and Larson Feldspar; please come to the table to get your assigned entrance. Following that, the battle will be between Amon Ra and Claude Kenni: be prepared to come forward once the arena is cleared.”

“You give them a good show,” Claude said, playfully punching Ashton in the arm as he got up.

“I hope so,” Ashton said. By the style's very nature, the heraldic fights tended to be far showier than any other category. Practitioners were often expected to be mindful of appearance in these matches for sport.

The organizer directed him down the left hallway underneath the stands, leading him to the west entrance to the arena. Much like the waiting area, these halls were plain with function. Most people would never see these areas, and those walking through them often had much more on their minds than interior appearance. Such as mentally focusing on the upcoming battle.

“Problem is, I don't have all that many flashy moves now,” he said quietly.

 _About that,_ Ururun said, _I've been watching you for a while now and I've got some ideas on what you could do with my power. Want to try?_

Borrow the dragons' powers? He'd been leery of that originally, but having spent ceaseless time with them for over two months, it now sounded like a decent idea. It might even keep them happy. “Would've been nice to practice beforehand, but sure, if you know how I need to move, I’ll give it a shot.”

_Haha, I’ll make something cool happen!_

_You can only do cool,_ Gyoro taunted his twin, but that only got Ururun to happily bop his head around.

As he walked into the arena with his opponent, the crowd was cheering in anticipation, maybe hoping for a longer match than what Dias was doing. “Next up, we have the final match for the first round of Heraldic Weapons! We have an amazing match-up here, folks, with the surprising and shocking entry of a true heraldic knight of Eluria and tamer of dragons, Sir Ashton Anchors! He'll be facing one of the most elusive fighters on the continent of Lacour, a shadowy saber-user who is also a master of illusions, the Gray Ghost! He's pluckily fighting for one of the main shops, Counterpunch, with a sword not often using in this form of battle, so he could be quite unpredictable.”

 _I thought he was called Larson some rock name,_ Ururun said.

“I suppose they call him whatever they like,” Ashton said quietly.

 _At least they gave away more information about him than us,_ Gyoro said, snorting. _But you definitely haven't tamed us, got it?_

“Got it.”

“Go kick his butt Ashton!” a shout somehow pierced through the racket of the crowd.

The bullhorn sounded the start of the match as he was smiling from the cheer. His opponent, a man who was wielding only one sword and wearing an ashen gray hooded cloak, quickly vanished into a growing magical mist. However, swirls of movement in the moisture betrayed the Gray Ghost's movements. The further it spread, the easier it would be to follow him. Ashton brought his swords into a defensive posture ready to parry, circling around while trying to watch the mist motions.

After a second, he saw a pink aura moving where the Gray Ghost was; Gyoro was able to pick him out too and was letting Ashton see him even better. Ururun sniffed, then said, _Goodie good, I could put that mist to use. Okay, this is gonna require a bit of windup, so you need to catch him in the middle of an action and be at a proper distance. Here's your moves._ The steps of something Ururun was calling Northern Cross came into Ashton's mind.

“Looks good,” he murmured. Then the Gray Ghost sprang at him, only appearing visually when he was right at his striking distance. Gyoro had highlighted the saber too, so it was a simple act to catch the Ghost's attack, step around quickly, then hurl him into a patch of the arena that yet to have mist. The Ghost because more visible there, but the mist rapidly built up to hide him again. At least, so he thought.

For a couple of minutes, it was a game of catch and release. The Ghost kept trying to surprise him, but Ashton started faking him out by pretending to fall for the disguise until right before the attack. Then the Ghost started whirling his saber around while he was invisible, whipping up the mist into some kind of attack. With help from Gyoro, Ashton dashed out of the strike zone and set up Northern Cross. After several slashes of both swords in sync, the form of a big bunny made of snow appeared right in front of him. He then smashed both of his swords into the sculpture, causing it to explode in the direction of the Gray Ghost.

It disrupted the mist attack, tossed the Ghost back several feet, and made the audience hoot and cheer in approval. But it didn't knock the Gray Ghost onto the ground or any other of the conditions required to win a match. Hoping the Ghost would be stunned for a moment, he quickly called up Leaf Slash to cross the distance behind his opponent and strike. This time, the Ghost parried him, whipping about rapidly in order to do so. He only had one sword, though, and Ashton had two swords and two dragons. Gyoro reared back, then somehow stretched further out for a bite attack. In trying to avoid that, the Ghost unbalanced himself and made it easy for Ashton to strike again and knock him over. He had to stay there for a moment with his swords aimed at the Ghost, not attacking but keeping him down until the count was over.

“And the winner is, Sir Anchors!” the announcer called over the bullhorn and the cheering crowd.

“How did you see me?” the Gray Ghost asked, not sounding hostile at all now that the match was over.

Ashton put his swords away. “Watching for unnatural movements in the mist.” Then he offered a hand up to him.

The Ghost smiled and accepted it, shaking his hand formally when on his feet. “Good eye, fellow, good eye.”

As they were walking back, Gyoro said, O _kay, next match you have to use my move. It's much more awesome and has a name to match: Dead Triangle._

“It'd better not be deadly in this setting,” Ashton pointed out.

 _No, he just thinks every name is made better with some reference to death or mortality,_ Ururun said, cheerfully swinging around.

_Are you gonna deny that awesomeness?!_

“I'll take your word for it,” Ashton said.

A short while later, the announcer started the next match amid an awful lot of coordinated cheers for Amon Rau. “And now we jump right back into Swordsmanship the third stage with an eagerly anticipated match that so many of you have been waiting for! On the east end, we have Claude Kenni with the shop Slayers, a previously unsung warrior who has garnered great admiration from the crowds with his bright attitude and skillful power. And on the west end, we have the heartthrob sensation of the arena, Amon Rau with the shop Straight, who has long won the hearts and idolization of countless damsels with his dashing good looks and peerless fighting style. Who will come out the winner in this match of rising stardom?”

“Geez, I bet that embarrassed him,” Ashton said.

Having come back in after his match, Dias nearby nodded. “Thank goodness they don't do that for me,” he stated.

After winning the match, Claude met them back there and asked, “Can I go sock the guy making the announcements? I've heard of bolstering excitement, but sheesh.”

“I'll back you up and get him if he dodges,” Dias said.


	22. Final Matches

-Ashton, Lacour Castle battle arena

The arena was quiet and still as the first rays of dawn trickled in the windows. Late night carousing kept people from being in here this early and the first matches of the day wouldn't be until late morning. Due to that, the few guards that were in here didn't mind him being in the arena itself for some practice. And even of them, no one was watching. That meant it didn't matter if he kept failing.

 _Maybe you should just give up on that,_ Gyoro said after a few times.

“Well I don't plan on using it today,” Ashton said. “But I don't want to give up on it fully either. Sword Dance is what Elurian heraldic knights are famous for and it's disgraceful if one can't use it. Although... maybe if the ghosts of my kingdom won't forgive me, I won't be able to. But father said it had to be done so I should be able to, I think. I hope so.”

 _I don't think it's that,_ Ururun said. _I haven't felt any hateful spirits whose hate was directed at you. 'cept Gyoro, and that's cause he's a grumpy grump. Besides, since it is a loyalty-based heraldic move, it ought to do something nasty to disloyal knights that use it. Like make them chop off their own heads, or brand them with something really embarrassing like a tattoo of a monkey butt on their forehead. You just freeze up, so I think it's just something in your head that makes you not let yourself use it._

“I don't remember it having any measures like that,” Ashton said. “Maybe I didn't hear of it. And I hope it's not because I have a part wrong; I don't think there's anyone I could learn from now.”

Gyoro grumbled. _That's why I think you should give up on it; you're worrying too much. Let's just kick *** and be done with it._

_But he'd be awesome if he could! And that would make us awesome because we're with him._

_You do have a point there. Okay, let's figure this out together!_

“Oh now you want to be cooperative,” Ashton said sarcastically, although smiling. “Sure, let me run through this again.”

_Since he's paying attention, go through each of the four parts you have, and then we'll see about making the transitions work. I mean, we're not used to a human body, but heraldic stuff is easy._

While he was following Ururun's suggestion, someone else came into the arena. “Good morning, Ashton,” Claude said.

He paused a moment. “Good morning Claude. Thinking about practicing too?” He finished off the step, then put his swords down.

“Yeah,” he said. “If the step up from yesterday is any clue, there could be some tough fights ahead. Especially if I get to the finals as it'll probably be Dias.”

“I'd say that's almost certain,” Ashton said. “You're doing well. Any plans for if you do have to fight him?”

“Try not to get hit the first half-minute?” he said, rubbing his forehead. “His Air Slash is far faster than mine, so I think I need to close the distance quickly. But then I also need to try dragging the fight out. He's used to very short battles, so if I can block him a few times, it might get easier.”

“I think you could also take advantage of his habit of resheathing after attacks,” Ashton suggested. “Strike when he doesn't have his sword out, or even force him to keep it out to throw off his normal pace. You're more used to changing when you need to.”

Claude nodded. “I think it would be interesting to see how he deals with an unexpected style change. Although, it'd be far safer to see it when I’m not the one fighting him.” After a short chuckle, he said, “Mind sparring with me? The only duel-wielding monsters I've seen are those teleporting ant queens, but they are nasty to deal with.”

“Sure.” He didn't try any of his special moves, and Claude did the same as neither of them were trying to win the practice spar. But it was a nice chance to talk.

Several hours later, Ashton was back in the arena, but the atmosphere was drastically different. It was back to the noise, excitement, anticipation, and pride that made up this showcase of battle skills. And the person he looked at entering the arena wasn't someone he was familiar with, might not be someone he'd talk to normally. He wore full body armor in the colors and style of the Lacourian military, save for large portions of it converted to chain mail rather than plate armor in an attempt to lighten the weight and allow better movement. Like Ashton, he had two blades. Because of those clues, he knew even before the announcer said just who this would be.

“Heeeeere we have the final match for the dazzling and demanding class of Heraldic Weapons, something that is sure to be astounding. Already amazing is that we have a close match to the final battle from last year's tournament, between two heraldic knights of different nations! On the west end, we have the son of last year's Heraldic Weapons champion, Sir Ashton Anchors of Eluria, who has confounded his foes with the power and grace of a dragon! On the east end, we have our own heraldic knight who made it to the finals last year, Sir Matthias Kierkegaard, who is known for having the power and speed of lightning! Who will come out on top in this clash of sword and sorcery?”

 _We need to show him why it's a ****ing bad idea to face an dragon in metal armor,_ Gyoro said, grinning.

 _Aw, but then I won't get to have fun,_ Ururun said, dropping his head.

“No, I think working with the two of you will be better than working with one here,” Ashton said quietly. Then the buzzer sounded and the match began.

Matthias made a yellow flicker appear around one of his swords. Having seen him fight, Ashton knew it was a bad sign. This knight would be too fast and nimble to make adequate use of Dead Triangle with, since he'd just be able to get out of its damage circle. And unless he got caught in an elaborate move, Northern Cross would be too slow as well. Because of that, he called up Leaf Slash to get across the arena quickly.

And just in time, as Matthias let loose a giant horizontal bolt of lighting at the spot he'd been standing in. Ashton got a free hit in, but Matthias quickly turned and began sparring with him. It had been a few months since he'd properly fought someone else who duel-wielded and this knight was skilled. While he got hit a few times, his armor absorbed the blows and his opponent was taking the same beating. After a minute, both of them moved back to reassess the situation.

Ashton took the moment to think to his companions. _Okay, I want you two to use your breath attacks against him, when the moment's right._

 _Okay, but is mine gonna do anything significant?_ Ururun asked.

 _Who knows?_ Gyoro said. _But it'd be far more uncomfortable for him to be hit with both at once._

Matthias then took a very familiar stance, then launched into Sword Dance. Knowing how the move went, Ashton dashed out of the way before he tried lunging forward as part of the move. In doing so, he saw what was wrong: Matthias wasn't using heraldic energy to do this. He was merely imitating the form. Ashton attacked him at an opportune moment when he was trying to do a turning move, then thought, O _kay, now!_

The two dragons were already inhaling great energy. A second later, they blasted the other knight with twin streams of energy. It wasn't nearly as large of an attack as what they'd done to Ashton back in Salva Drift. But it was still effective; in the middle of the attack, there was a crack as something about his armor failed. The chain mail shirt fell off him completely, partly melted and partly shattered. But that wasn't the end of the attack. They ended up toasting the undergarments and belt Matthias was wearing. The attack ended with the other knight not wearing much at all besides some burns and frostbites.

Howling with laughter, the audience loved it. Down on the arena floor, Ashton could see how embarrassed Matthias was. But his honor was such that he wasn't going to give up, not while he was still on his feet. Ashton humored him for a moment by letting him step out of the leg armor before meeting him in a clash of blades again. Since he didn't want to kill him _aw phooey, I wanted to eat him_ ,it was harder to fight him this way. But once his burns started bleeding and he began to look tired, Ashton ended the fight by striking him low with the flat edge of one of his blades, knocking him down.

“Amazing match, wasn't it folks?” the announcer called. “And our winner for the heraldic weapons bracket is Sir Ashton Anchors! I guess it's true that there are no equals to the Elurian heraldic knights even in our powerful kingdom.”

Ashton might have felt flattered by that, if it didn't make him think of his fallen comrades and family. “Can you make it to the infirmary on your own?” he asked Matthias.

The Lacourian knight was getting back to his feet, determined to ignore the audience due to the state he was in. “As long as I can get to the door here, I don't care if they carry me the rest of the way,” he said. “I can do that much. Good match.” He offered a handshake, which Ashton accepted. Then they parted and walked back to their opposing entrances.

 _See, told you we didn't need some fancy-smancy heritage move_ Gyoro said.

 _I dunno, what we did was pretty fancy,_ Ururun countered.

“I'm still going to master it some day,” Ashton said.

* * *

 

-Opera, Lacour Castle

“They're sure making a killing off this event,” Opera mumbled to herself. It was noon on the last day and as usual, there were a number of vendors, mostly food and drink related, in a couple of long halls around the arena. They weren't allowed in the hall just outside the seating area, but in the straight halls around it? There wasn't an empty space against the walls, as if the usual city market had been moved in here for these three days. However, the prices were slightly higher than before.

There were no fights going on at the moment, as they had gone on break for lunch. At the moment, she was looking for something to eat so she could go back to the spot where their group had arranged to meet up. But then Opera had gotten distracted in asking a few questions of people. It seemed the vendors were required to pay a booth fee that was higher than the marketplace fee, but most felt it was worth it. Not only that, but a few vendors were directly from the castle, giving their profits to the Lacour government. People grumbled about taxes, but it didn't seem much of a burden (although most noted that the Lacour military took a big cut of it). It was all interesting information towards building a socioeconomic and political picture of this planet. But then, not much help in getting back to her friends with lunch.

Another thing that wasn't much help was that even though a lot of people were here, Ernest wasn't one of them. Opera thought there might be a chance he'd come. Although he wasn't the kind of guy who'd go out to watch a fighting tournament, he might come for the same reason she liked being here, seeing a special event in a completely unstudied civilization. He should be pretty obvious. Blond hair like both of them had was unusual, as this world favored blues and greens in hair coloration (not to mention the dead-giveaway eyes). Also like her, his 'average for Tetragenes' height should stand out too. But, no sign of him here either. Where was he? Hopefully he hadn't already left Expel when both she and Claude were stuck.

“Oh my goodness!” some girl squealed near her. Opera paused and looked over in time to see a young woman with a long pink ponytail bound over to her. For some strange reason, she had a cloth hand on a large stick attached to her back. “M'am, sorry, but that bracelet you have, is it really...?” Her attention was glued to the little golden bracelet on Opera's wrist.

Wait... “I still have it on?” she asked. “I thought I'd given it back. Sorry, but I borrowed it from a friend and I really should return it to her.”

“It's Mischief, isn't it?” the young woman said, barely heeding what Opera was saying. “Wow, I thought I'd never see one in person! This is so amazingly rare, you know?”

“Is it?” She gently pulled her hand away. “I'm sorry, but I'm not able to sell it.”

She quickly waved her hands in front of her face. “No, no, I wouldn't dream of it! Serious! But, I was thinking... oh, I should tell you who I am, huh?” She smiled. “Hi, I'm Welch! I'm a creator... not wait, an inventor of things. That's right, almost go carried away, hah ha.” She rubbed her head. “Nice to meet you.”

She nodded. “Nice to meet you too. I'm Opera. And as I was saying, this actually belongs to a friend. She asked me to hold onto it for an experiment and I should give it back.” It had been an interesting experiment. Just like with Rena, items would appear without warning in her bag: herbs, those poison checks, this planet's money, even small pieces of gold and silver. But strangest of all, one time she found a coin from Tetragenes that she knew hadn't been in there. She left much of that money back on her home planet and in spending around three months on this planet, surely she would have noticed it. That coin spooked her; she had intended to return the bracelet right away, so that she wouldn't accidentally pull another and have to explain it to the natives.

“Because it pulls items to you without your notice, right?” Welch asked, tilting her head in a cute way.

“Yes, exactly that,” Opera said. “What do you know about it?”

“I know that no matter how good I get at making things, I might go a lifetime without ever making that,” she said. “It's a really really rare result of... well, a result, you know? And really rare. But actually, as it is now, it's incomplete.”

“Is it?” she asked, glancing at it. “I have noticed that there's space for more beads.”

Welch nodded. “Right. A complete version would have a totally different name, not Mischief. Aw man, I can tell how to work with it, to put it closer to its final form... do I have the gear to do it all with, though? I really want to work on it, it would be a once-in-a-lifetime creation! Even if it's already created and just needs modifications to give it a better item pool...” She rubbed her chin.

“Then it's supposed to give you random things?” Opera asked. “Why?”

“Of course it is,” Welch said, waving a hand while trying to explain. “And it... it just does, you know? It's a prayer to Lady Luck, so to speak, but done up real careful like so it doesn't give you bad stuff. May I work on it, please? I mean, if you're late in giving it back to your friend, why not give it back in a better form? I won't even charge for it, promise! The experience of handling it is worth the material cost.”

“How much time would it take?” Opera asked. “Because we might be leaving the continent after the tournament.”

“I can have it done in a couple of hours,” she said, then pulled the hand on a stick off her back. “Here, you can take this for collateral! It's one of my favorite things, plus I can find it and thus you when I'm done. I'm almost never parted from my handy hand on a stick, but I really want to work with that Mischief.”

The... handy hand on a stick? A bizarre thing. But then, forward thinkers and inventors like Precis and Welch here were often eccentric compared to the people around them. Opera smiled and nodded. “All right then, Miss Welch, you have a deal. I hope she'll like it.” She took off the Mischief and handed it over in exchange for the handy hand on a stick.

Now she really needed to get going. Opera looked around, eventually picking a vendor that didn't have a long line and seemed to have a palatable menu. That got her a very basic meal of a meat-like sausage in a bread bun with some kind of chunky sauce and melted cheese on it, a local root vegetable cut up and deep fried, and a sweet drink. Yes, even the basics of hot dog, fries, and soda could be found on many planets. Not surprising as they were simple things, but good just about anywhere.

The rest of her friends were already gathered. Bowman and Nineh had joined them, as well as Dias (surprisingly). “Ah, what took you so long?” Rena said with a smile. “We were about to send somebody out to look for you.”

“I just don't know how the time flies sometimes,” she said jokingly, sitting down with them. “All I did was ask people some questions and all of a sudden, it's halfway through the lunch break. Sorry to have worried you.”

“At least you made it,” she said. “But what's with the extra hand? Get a third hand to go with your third eye?”

Fortunately, Opera hadn't started eating yet, so it was safe for her to burst out laughing at that. “Sometimes I honestly think I could use one,” she replied. “But no, it's... for a secret.” She winked, then picked up the hot dog to eat. The sauce wasn't what she expected, but it was really delicious.

Some of the others were already done, like Dias and Bowman. The older man pulled two boxes out of the large pack he was using to sit against. “Hey honey, want to make some music?” he asked playfully.

“I'm still eating,” Nineh said, shaking her head.

“Aw, I was hoping for a musical break,” Bowman said in mock disappointment. “Guess I'll have to play on my own then. What do you want to hear: banjo or guitar?”

“Whichever,” Nineh said, grinning in a mischievous way.

“Are you gonna complain about whichever one I choose?” he asked, laughing a little.

Rena brightened. “Dias can play the guitar,” she said.

“Really?” Bowman asked in surprise, looking over at him.

“I haven't in some time,” Dias said, sounding disinterested even if he was looking right at the guitar case. “Had to sell mine off a year back.”

Bowman ignored the tone and opened up the guitar case, handing the instrument to Dias. “Well here, you can play with me then. What songs do you remember?”

While he took it a bit reluctantly, Dias didn't refuse and even checked the strings to see how they were tuned. “Some? I would play at church services or holidays.”

“Opera!” Precis closed a notebook and got on her feet to go sit by her. “Hey, I've got a great idea for Bobot! Remember that guy in the heavy arms matches who had the huge drills for weapons? Well he pitched them in the hall, thinking they were junk, and the weapon store owner didn't even go over to claim them. So I got 'em and showed 'em to Bobot, and he could use them, and I think, after seeing what he did, that I can make a ridey-diggy moley module!”

“Say what?” Opera said, setting her hot dog down to look in Precis' notebook at her sketches. On the ride up here, she had been pestering Claude, so he pointed out that Opera knew about machines too. As it turned out, she knew more about machinery than he did. Along with her experience in skipping around their extraterrestrial origins and advanced technology, Opera was much better suited to talk with Precis about machines.

“See?” she said, pointing out several features. “Dig like a mole and pop out to drill enemies! It'd be awesome if I can adapt the drills and probably some armor to Bobot so he can help me fight like that.”

And what she was doing was extraordinary. The machines her family had from what seemed to be a wrecked starship were centuries ahead in technology. Such as Bobot: Opera believed he was a remote planetary scout from a research vessel. People on Expel shouldn't be capable of understanding him, but somehow Precis and her family had reverse-engineered that technology to create their own devices. Or in this case, upgrades and even programming to space age technology.

The Underdeveloped Planetary Protection Pact prevented Opera from teaching Precis. Although, she would love to bring the girl back to her university. Even if she'd have an immense gap to catch up on, Opera felt that Precis would be capable of being an amazing student there. But the pact didn't prevent her from looking over Precis' work and asking subtle questions, to make her think and notice problems that jumped out at Opera immediately.

Perhaps a case could be argued that, between the previous accident and the mysterious Sorcery Globe (if it turned out to be the right kind of OoPA), Expel already had a connection with space-age civilizations and contact could be made with them. But if Opera was going to try something like that, it would be a massive help to have Ernest figuring out the evidence and arguments too. Maybe even Claude, if he could use his connection to his father to get the Earth Federation to be lenient in this one instance.

* * *

 

-Dias, arena hallway

Today was a notable one. Not because of the tournament; the semifinal match had been a disappointment too. The final match was coming up, himself against Claude, but it didn't matter to Dias for once whether he won or lost. That was strange enough, but it was more than that. If he'd end up meeting the King of Lacour, the day still wouldn't be any more notable than it already was. Royal status didn't mean much to him. After all, a king was not all powerful and could not defend everyone. No... today was notable because for the first time since his family had died, he'd felt happy.

And it wasn't even a big thing. During lunch, Bowman had roped him into playing a few songs with him to pass the time before the tournament started up again. He had fumbled a bit and some of the songs Bowman suggested Dias didn't know. They'd even made him sing, but... no, they hadn't made him. Playing music again had sparked a bit of happiness again and when Ashton had asked for a song of praise to the gods, Dias just started singing along with Bowman (and eventually most of their group) because it felt right.

He thought he'd never sing that song again. After all, since he'd been left alone so cruelly, he thought the gods had forgotten him and didn't deserve his praise. Yet in that time, with mediocre singing and average playing, Dias had felt like he was a part of the whole group, not just an outsider who was only there because of one of them. Those strange people, it felt like they were all his friends too, no matter how he'd given them the cold shoulder before. He thought that if he had a friend again, he'd desperately want to get out of it so that he wasn't hurt when the friend died. But although the fear lingered, he wanted more to ignore it. He had mastered his father's style; could he learn another to better protect and help these new friends? The best way to know would to simply go with them, if they'd have him.

“It's time,” the Lacourian knight on guard said. Dias nodded and entered the arena. The way the light of this time of day fell into the arena, it seemed as though the air was glowing. As the roar of the crowd swelled around him, he shut it out to focus on the battle.

“And now, we have the match you've all been waiting for, the grand finale of the Tournament of Arms, the Swordsmanship finals match! This year, we have two new and exciting challengers to the tournament facing off in a battle of skills and strength. On one hand, we have Claude Kenni from Arlia in Cross who has skillfully made his way through many tough battles to become a darling of the arena crowd. On the other hand, we have Dias Flac, also from Arlia in Cross, who has utterly dominated all of his matches by completely overwhelming his opponents in seconds. Who will come out as the last winner of the day in a hometown rivalry? We'll just have to watch and see.”

Truth be told, Claude didn't look as intimidating as others in the tournament. He actually seemed like a simple man, not one who'd be mistaken for the legendary Warrior of Light. His chain mail armor had no family coat of arms, the buckler on his arm was simple in design, the sword he had was nothing fancy. Then again, Dias had seen some impressive looking warriors who turned out to only look impressive, much like other things he'd seen in Lacour. This nation sure knew how to look strong, but its capabilities were starting to lack.

The bullhorn starting the match sounded. Claude immediately used Air Slash, so Dias countered with his faster moving variant; the two waves of bladed air met on Claude's end of the arena, canceling each other out. In the meantime, Claude used a second special move in order to leap clear across the arena faster than he should have; heraldic energy was good for that. Dias sidestepped out of the way, then drew his sword to slam the blunt side of the sword into his chest.

And Claude blocked the strike entirely. Since that parry wasn't one quick burst of strength like his strike, the blond swordsman was even able to shove Dias back a step when his move should have ended. That was something that Dias hadn't encountered for a long time. The last person who could parry him had been his father during training matches. Because of that, this was already a more challenging match than any other in this showy tournament, certainly more than his match against Zand.

So Dias did something he rarely did: he didn't resheath his sword. Instead, he blocked a few times as Claude took the initiative to attack again. His attacks were simple, aside from the special move (and as far as special moves went, those were simple). But there was true strength behind them, enough that it felt entirely possible that he could lose in one wrong move. Once Claude's attacks began to relent, Dias infused his sword with the chaotic energy of battle and struck hard at his head. That knocked him to the ground, long enough for the bullhorn to go off to end the match.

The announcer went on blathering something about a furiously fast and furious battle, but Dias hardly heard himself being announced as the champion of Swordsmanship. Claude had sat back up, but something didn't seem right. There wasn't any blood visible, expected because he hadn't been using the sharp edge. Still, his eyes didn't focus right and he seemed to be having trouble sitting straight. “Fof zua tii xjev vsadl jov ni?” he asked as he unsteadily got back on his feet. “Us xjev xet vjev?”

Definitely something wrong with him. “You'd better go to the infirmary,” Dias said. But when Claude just gave him a puzzled look, Dias waved him to follow and led him out of the arena. He had to help him the last few feet, and then Claude collapsed unconscious in the hallway. When the knight on guard came over, Dias said, “Would you take him to the infirmary? I'm going to get some extra help for him.”

“Will do,” the knight said. Dias nodded and headed off to where he knew their friends had been sitting at for much of the tournament. Bowman was good, but for this, perhaps Rena's powers would be necessary.

In the stands, there was much excited talking and carousing. Everyone was waiting for the crew to clear up the stadium floor for the awards ceremony. A few people noticed him as he made his way down and tried to call for his attention. Ignoring them, he found Rena and the others right by the shielding wall. As they were friends of participants, they got this choice seating area.

Rena was currently talking to Ashton while searching in her purse. “I hope he does listen,” she said, taking out a folded paper, checking it, then handing it to him. “Or try to ask him for a meeting with all of us to get a ship to the continent.”

“Certainly.”

“Rena,” Dias said, coming up behind their bench.

The group looked back in surprise. “Oh Dias,” she said, startled. “Aren't you supposed to be waiting for...?”

“There's something more important,” he said, cutting her off. Time shouldn't be wasted here. “Claude may have walked out of there, but he couldn't talk or walk straight; I thought he could make it to the infirmary if I walked with him, but he's unconscious now. You should go down there and help out.”

That got her concerned. “Really? Oh, sure, um, where is it?” She grabbed her things and got out of her seat, climbing over the bench to follow him.

It was enough of a concern that the three others came along as well (although Ashton probably would have come regardless because of the awards ceremony). Down in the infirmary, they found Bowman and Nineh at Claude's bed, wrapping an ice pace behind his left ear where Dias had struck him. His chain mail cap was by the bed; parts of the links were crushed from the blow and even had some blood and hair in it. It just hadn't bled heavily enough to be immediately noticed. Also, where Claude had been getting tanned lately due to practicing outside the city, the skin around his face seemed pale now.

“How is he?” Rena asked, going over to the bed and clutching her pendant.

“He took a hard blow to the head,” Bowman said. “It makes it hard to do much to help him. Sometimes patients recover on their own, but sometimes it's eventually fatal.” Opera then said something weird, to which even Bowman seemed puzzled. “What about concus?”

“Oh, never mind,” she said, putting a hand on her neck. “Something I heard of.”

Rena had already tried casting her healing spell once. “Can you recover someone from that?” Bowman asked.

“Um, I have before,” she said, closing her eyes and now putting her hand over Claude's head. “It's, um... this feel worse... I should be able...” She cast again, the faint sparkles of heraldry falling from her hand.

Since that was taken care of, Dias turned to Ashton. “We should get going.”

“Right,” Ashton said, although he seemed worried about Claude still. “I hope you can save him.”

If anyone could, Rena was the one. Dias didn't worry himself about it and instead went back to the arena. He hadn't planned on coming. After all, with the poor showing the regular shops and the rest of the fighters had put on, it was a slight embarrassment to accept the award for winning. Plus all the crowds and the people; he'd rather get out of here before he might get swarmed with attention. But that happiness from lunch made him change his mind. He wasn't sure if they'd all accept him, but Rena at least would convince the others to let him stay. Dias didn't know what his next purpose in life could be, but maybe if he stuck around these people long enough, he might find something.

The Lacour military brought out trumpets and drums for the awards ceremony, with flag-bearers in the back and some pretty girls around to hand out trophies and reward money. There were seven champions there for all seven categories. Keeping the royal favorite of Swordsmanship for last, Ashton got called up fourth to accept his award and a handshake from the king. The two of them spoke briefly, unheard by even Dias with the noise of the crowd around them. Strangely, he didn't see the letter from the Cross king pulled out.

Ashton looked nervous when he came back, holding onto a medal for winning his category and a pouch of fol. When Dias raised an eyebrow at him, Ashton rubbed his head; Ururun poked at the hand. “He said he wants to talk to me later this evening, as a representative of Eluria,” he said quickly. “I wasn't trained for political negotiations.”

“You're likely the only possible representative,” Dias replied. Ashton had some rank as a knight, but others who had fled from Eluria had no rank at all, and thus little weight in representing the fallen country.

“True,” he admitted. “And, there's something else going on that's making them cut this short. I think it's trouble.”

They were going through the awards rather quickly, Dias thought. Other than Ashton, the king had only said a few words to the other champions. More proof came when, without warning, a cannon boomed in the distance. The crowd quieted briefly, but most soon decided it must be no big deal. “And finally, we have the winner of the Swordsmanship division!” the announcer said. “He has put on a display of absolute mastery at a young age, as only the final match gave him any difficulty. Please give a round of applause for Dias Flac!”

Dias walked up to the King of Lacour, looking him in the eyes without worrying about decorum. He wasn't much older than Dias' father would be, but his hair was completely white and his face showed wrinkles of worry and age. They also showed a few old scars. Apparently, the king had been quite a fighter in his youth, even participating in the tournament under an alternate identity. Probably swordsmanship, given how he favored it now.

“Congratulations, young master Flac,” the king said, offering his hand.

He shook it, but asked quietly, “What the hell is going on out there? If it was meant for this, it would have been timed better.”

The king narrowed his eyes for a second, but then relented. “The front line on the northern fort has fallen,” he admitted quietly. “A few monsters from Eluria are trying to breach the city walls. You'll hear it in a few minutes, when the announcer warns people not to leave the city.”

So, the war against the invaders of Eluria was growing more serious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Claude's messed up speech is a cipher, so it does mean something.


	23. Prototype Prestige Boss

-4D, email from Enlo

'Okay Blair, you're the only one I feel comfortable with contacting right now. I've been dealing with a certain problem for some time now, hoping that I could address the issue myself. At first, it seemed simple enough that I took on other projects, such as supporting older folks like CJ who needed help with the medical network. But as I reviewed the information I had today, I realized something: I screwed up big time and the effects on the Eternal Sphere could be catastrophic. It could affect nearly everyone in 4D as well, since the vast majority of people spend most of their time in immersion gaming. It's to the point where I can't handle this myself and I need some help from the inside.

'I'm not exaggerating here. It's a problem that has come up before and last time, you ended up locking off an entire species from play to make sure a fatal error didn't get triggered. Yeah, I'm talking about the Nedian heraldry and their prototype prestige bosses. I thought the company had entirely deleted the Nedian race after their homeworld was destroyed. Did you think that too? Because the Nedians still exist, just locked off from the rest of the universe in a high-energy body. And because they're protected like that, I can't look into how or what they're doing without tipping off internal security. All I can do is tell that they are there.

'Now if it was just that, I'd be fine with leaving them be. However, the energy body that the Nedians inhabit has changed its course dramatically; it's even sped up its travel along a course that will bring it to cross the orbital path of the planet Expel. The two astral bodies should safely miss each other, except that Expel's orbital path has been changed too. It's slowed down just enough to where it will collide with Nede in as little as six months Expellian time.

'This appears to be the effects of the Sorcery Globe. I was having trouble decrypting information around the OoPA, as the Expel Executioners are rather alert and I could only work on little bits at a time. But then I decided to look into various unusual events on Expel, from the Clik disaster to a PC named Ernest Raviendes who experienced an unusually strong demonic possession by way of Energy Stone. That's where I found evidence that the Nedian prestige bosses were already on Expel, controlling the Sorcery Globe (a Quadratic Sphere with a Key) to sacrifice Expel as a means of gathering power.

'This is alarming enough on its own, especially since the Sorcery Globe appears to be an unplanned event (at least, I hope you all didn't plan this). But there are yet more complications. There is a second Quadratic Key on the planet which, through resonating with the other, has caused the collision to happen so quickly, rather than in a century later as it should have happened. This Key is in possession of another Nedian on Expel, an NPC named Rena Lanford. She even has the Nedian flag on her, so no one can adopt her as a PC. Also, there is a second NPC with the Nedian flag, but even more inexplicably, it's the Earthling Claude Kenni who had been a potential PC up until an incident on Milocina caused the flag to appear in his profile.

'Also, you may be wondering how the prototype prestige bosses managed to escape the dimensional pocket dimension that they were last known to inhabit. Regretfully, that is my mistake. It was not my intention, but it was one of my characters that released them and started this whole chain of disaster. I thought I could handle it, since I thought they would be released into the closed off space of Nede. But since they're already on Expel, one of them even interacting with my current character without my realizing it until just today, I have to admit that this is beyond my ability to handle alone.

'I'm sorry for all the trouble. But please understand, this time around I really do want to make things better in the Eternal Sphere. I want to fix these mistakes, hopefully before it ends up costing us Expel (and perhaps more than that, due to the fatal error). But I need more information, especially on what the Nedians are currently capable of. For that, I want to ask for permission to make any steps I need to in order to contain these dangers. Right off, I know that I want a particular person to help us get into the current Nedian society, so we can make observations through that connection.

'I hope you're aware of all this happening. And if you decide it should be an internal investigation, I’ll back off for your sake. But please trust me this time around. Expel's one of my favorites and I don’t like sitting around doing nothing when I know that my own actions have put it in peril. Please let me help on this.

'Sincerely, Enlo'

* * *

 

-4D, Penny's classroom

She was getting popular. All of her classmates knew about the Sorcery Globe investigation that her character Precis was on; it made them envious, but it sure made them more willing to talk to her. While it was exciting, their teacher had told them not to write notes or chat about it until the virtual classroom was on break. Although once she got on break, she already knew that she was going to work on her dog robot instead. It was almost finished and the science fair was quickly approaching.

But this wasn't the time to be thinking about her mechanics project or about the Eternal Sphere. Well, it was about the game, but not her character. Today was all about giving reports on what they had been doing in self-study and Penny was in the middle of her speech on the first large-scale galactic rebellion plotline in the Eternal Sphere. She even has some footage of the attacks and gameplay from that time period playing in the background. Hopefully that got her a better score for the lesson.

“The background plot of the big event was that the planet Nede was growing tyrannical to its so-called partners in the galactic allegiance,” she said, while the back screen showed the publicity release of the event plot. “And with the presence of so many power players who would do anything to win, Nede was strict and often cruel to those in its union. In response, many of the affected planets united in an effort to break Nedian control of the Milky Way Galaxy. They actually won many conflicts in the early stages of the event.

“But then, the code cracker Lucifel revealed what he had been working on ever since the option to create boosted characters, classes, and races specifically for the event was revealed. His character at the time was Dr. Isrefal Lantis, a genius Nedian scientist who had brought many symbology creatures to life. And the pinnacle of Dr. Lantis' work, and through him Lucifel's work as well, were the genetically-enhanced soldiers known as the Ten Wise Men.”

At this point, Penny shifted the background screen to rotate between profile pages for Dr. Lantis and his creations, along with short recordings of battles with the Ten Wise Men. Her speaking the name of one would cause the program to focus on that character briefly. “The Ten Wise Men were sent out to rebelling planets in order to crack down on the rebels. At first, Sphere employees and players believed them to be boss-rank characters and accepted them as challenges to take down. They were released in pairs, starting with Ruprecht and Nicolas, both information gathering scouts. Despite this, both were very capable in battle. A few players managed to defeat them, but not destroy them; they always ran away at last moment to heal up.

“Then came a pair that were dedicated as battle mages: Jibril and Shigeo. They were a step up in difficulty, but players expected that as Nedians were widely recognized as excellent battle mages due to their innate Mana DNA Imprint trait and the training to put that to full use. But with four of these bosses out in the galaxy, the wins on the rebel side began to slow dramatically. At the time, everyone thought that Lucifel was a purely talented player who managed to create such challenging bosses through his player character instead of directly.

“However, things seemed suspect with the next release, of the physical fighters Berle and Marsilio. When word first got out about them, players thought that they'd be a joke. Nedians weren't known for fighters, so these two should have been easier to handle than Jibril and Shigeo.” At this point, Penny made sure to play a particular battle, of these two 'joke bosses' annihilating a hundred man army in a couple of minutes. “They weren’t. Berle and Marsilio were actually the first characters ever in the Eternal Sphere, boss or not, who could adapt the energy of symbology to use special fighting moves. Players complained and suspected cheating, but the Sphere Company reported that they didn't detect any cheats in creating them. They did show interest in their special moves, though.

“Next to come out were Decus and Vesper, two characters who Lucifel refused to give more than a vague description to. But it quickly became apparent that they were magic users and fighters both, extremely powerful bosses that quickly came to have a flawless battle record. Not only that, but at this point, the Wise Men started coordinating their attacks rather than simply taking orders and acting on their whims to stop the rebels by any means necessary. They even stopped working in pairs, which players thought was their only setting. Instead, they led precision strikes and planet-wide massacres against rebelling worlds. They would even attack Nedian forces that weren't a part of their group if they felt the other force was interfering.

“Then a Nedian player who managed to get into Dr. Lantis' laboratory made a discovery that rapidly changed opinions on the galactic rebellion plot. Lucifel and Lantis had actually released three of the Wise Men in their last update: Decus, Vesper, and Cyril. Cyril was the reason behind the sudden coordination and strategy changes, as he was created as a commander and resource manager to the others released before him. He also was just as ridiculously powerful as the pair released with him. And to top it all off, Dr. Lantis was working on two more of his soldiers, making eleven in the group named the Ten Wise Men. One was a strategist and the overall leader who was even more powerful than the previous three, while the other was a battlefield healer who could make sure the other ten could focus on battle rather than having to run to get themselves healed.

“Players were outraged by this. It already took high skill and often high luck in order to defeat one or two of the first few releases, but the last groups became nigh impossible to defeat without hacking a character to give it extraordinary power. Naturally-grown characters who had been developed over many years could be destroyed in seconds because of these super bosses that had been developed by Lucifel. They could even overwhelm the super bosses that the Sphere Company itself had created to give an extra challenge to players who liked to focus on battle, such as the first appearance of Gabriela.

“After many complaints, the Sphere Company took a deeper look at Lucifel's work. Through this, they found out about the potential for Nedians to bypass their stat cap as well as the amount of programming that Lucifel had added in order to make Dr. Lantis and the Wise Men. This made the event war horribly unbalanced in favor of the Nedians, whom the Sphere Company hoped to make less popular through this tyranny and war. But if they went with the standard judicial procedure for hackers in those days, the punishment would have been little more than a slap on the wrist and a short stay in prison, after which he'd be released and get back into hacking the game. Because of this, they held off on persecuting Lucifel until they could get the judicial system to agree that the crime required a harsher penalty. They used the claim that immersion gaming was growing into such a powerful social structure that Lucifel's actions were as damaging as those of a thief or violent political activist.

“In the meantime, the Sphere Company secretly supported a group of players who sought to stop Dr. Lantis from finishing the Wise Men project. As a mixture of Nedians and beings of other worlds, the player characters were seeking vengeance for attacks the Wise Men had made on their families, friends, and home worlds. They raided Dr. Lantis' lab, unfortunately arriving at a time when the scientist was not there. They damaged a good deal of equipment, property, and lesser soldiers there. However, they also killed Filia, Dr. Lantis' teenaged daughter and only surviving family member after rebels had killed his wife, parents, and siblings.

“Lucifel appeared in the forums shortly after the attack, ranting about it excessively. But that reaction was far less dramatic than that of Dr. Lantis. Within the game, the Nedian government forces who came to stop the attack removed Filia's body as well as evidence that she had been there. They didn't tell Dr. Lantis about her death, instead stating that she had been taken into protective custody. He disliked that and had Nicolas find where she was to bring her back home. It wasn't long before the Wise Man told him the truth about her death, even returning her body.

“This caused Dr. Lantis' mind to snap. He hated anyone and everyone who could be connected to her death and in his distraught, he saw everyone else as responsible for it. Without even thinking twice, he changed the objective of the Wise Men from quelling the rebellion to taking over the Nedian government, and therefore the whole galaxy with it. But Lucifiel was immersed in Dr. Lantis at the time of that revelation. Due to the lack of safeguards that we have today, Lucifel also became unhinged. He made it possible for Dr. Lantis to transfer the mind of Filia into the body of the battlefield healer, then to transfer himself into the final Wise Man, their strategist and leader Indelacio. Thus, Lucifel went from controlling Dr. Lantis, a barely legal character, to controlling Indelacio, a completely illegal super boss that went beyond the boundaries of other super bosses.

“The next stage of the galactic war event was extremely violent, being the Ten Wise Men against the whole galaxy. From the first few days of it, it seemed entirely possible that the Wise Men would conquer everyone else. There were even outbursts of violence that happened in 4D space as a result of Eternal Sphere events, several of which could be directly connected to Lucifel who had gone insane due to his immersion time in Dr. Lantis. At this point, the judicial system agreed that the laws concerning hackers were in dire need of change. They gave permission for Lucifel to be arrested for harsher punishment, but on the condition that he be disconnected from the Eternal Sphere first. That would prove easier said than done.”

Penny then brought up some video footage from 4D space. It showed Lucifel's apartment, filled with dangerous traps in order to keep people from invading his home. The other students gasped and seemed horrified to see such dangerous things in a 4D house. After all, these days safety laws would allow nothing remotely like this to exist. The laws kept pins and knives from always being sharp, so to have trapdoors with tall spikes in a pit was shocking to see here.

“Lucifel had become worried about his home being invaded too, so he set up these traps in order to keep anyone else from entering. As this was from when the system of home safety moderation was optional instead of mandatory by law, he was able to do so easily. It became clear that in order to get to Lucifel, something would have to be done about his PC Indelacio first.

“With the event increasingly becoming hated by players, the Eternal Sphere released a public apology for how things had worked out. They even put out a request for teams of skilled players who would be temporarily given powerful characters in order to stop the Wise Men. Many volunteered, even signing legal statements agreeing to let the characters go once the event could be concluded. With the company programmers working tirelessly to give them advantages, these teams were able to push back against the Wise Men, forcing them to retreat within Lantis' laboratory.

“The siege lasted for several days and would have lasted longer had Indelacio not taken a break to sleep. On the 4D side, this allowed the enforcement officers to break into Lucifel's house and forcibly remove him from immersion. Eternal Sphere employees were then able to implement their solution to the mess, which was to have Indelacio seal himself and the other ten Wise Men into Eternity Space, which is a fold in space where, once the Space is locked down, no one could get in or out at all.

“Still, the fight to get them under control had decimated much of Nede's military forces. They were now completely vulnerable to their rebelling allies, who blamed all of them for the destruction and cruelty they had suffered from the Ten Wise Men and other corrupt officials. Plus, a good number of Nedians, both of the NPC and PC variety, were horrified by the whole scenario as proof of what they could do should they decide to use their abilities and intellect for evil. The Nedians thus built an artificial planet that had extraordinary defenses, similar to the Eternity Space prison that the Wise Men were in, to move their remaining citizens to and then destroyed their original home planet to escape the wrath of the rest of the galaxy. Without the Nedians around, a power vacuum caused anarchy within the galactic community, eventually leading to the total collapse of many other civilizations that had been ruled by Nede.

“That was the end of the story from inside the Eternal Sphere, the end of the First Space Age. In 4D, the Sphere Company deleted the Nedian race from the database, although they allowed artifacts, buildings, and structures that were on other planets to remain, as future bases for dungeons and adventures. After reviewing the situation, they restructured the player races, using the game records up through the First Space Age to make a more refined game. This edition of the Eternal Sphere was the one that completely overtook its competitors, leading it to be the sole immersion game running today.

“As for the hacker Lucifel, it was decided that he had been broken beyond help by his immersion and hacking experience. He was sentenced to have his life ended. In the wake of his judgment, laws regarding programming, hacking, and tampering with technology were reviewed and made far stricter. Technology safety was also reviewed, giving new standards to immersion gaming equipment and screening for mental instabilities. It even led to the banning of use of pseudonyms in online activities, which is why everyone today will use their legal name for everything. While what Lucifel did was unethical and dangerous, the problems it caused ended up making our society a healthier, safer, and more secure place. And that's how it was.”

There were some cheers, clapping, and approval signs from her classmates at the end of the speech. Penny grinned. Good, she'd done well. She couldn't afford to make a mistake, not when it was so close to when she had to get a permanent job offer, or never get it at all. Even her teacher said, “Well done, Penny. That is a good thing to know about.”

* * *

 

-4D, Sorcery Globe message board

Topic: So this is where Claude got to.

Original Post (Ronnie*): Expel, huh? I've been locked out on checking Claude's status ever since he got beamed off of Millocenia, so even I had no idea. I thought that he'd been blown further away, but the Calnus will be in the area before long, following its survey path. Roinoix will be glad to find him.

Reply 1 (CJ): Oh, hey famous guy! Yup, we've got your character's son here. He's doing well, although I hope you don't mean to steal off with him too soon *wink

Reply 2 (Ronnie*): Hah, your planet was the one to steal him first. I'll have to review the recordings and see what he's been up to.

Reply 3 (CJ): He's been on a crazy adventure with us. Watched an entire town get destroyed, kinda helped out a royal wedding, beat down demonic mutants. Hey, he even almost won a fighting tournament!

Reply 4 (Ashe): Yeah, that was a real nail biter of a match even if it went by so fast. But now Claude's unconscious from a concussion. Don't worry, he'll live (and should be okay, thanks to healing heraldry).

Reply 5 (Ronnie*): Wow, and Roinoix had been worried about him being a bit of a wimp and reckless on top of that. Though he still sounds reckless. Heraldry?

Reply 6 (Ashe): It's what Expellians call symbology.

Reply 7 (CJ): Seems that being on his own has toughened him up a bit. Probably helps that he has friends that he's trying to help. And yeah, what Ashe said.

Reply 8 (Ronnie*): Well that's good. I was worried about him myself. You know how we get with our characters and their families. Of course, when the Calnus does arrive and finds him, I doubt Roinoix will let him go easily. He knows how dangerous adventuring in the galaxy can be and this might make him keep being over-protective. Or maybe lighten up, depending on how Claude handles things.

Reply 9 (Ashe): So if you didn't know where he was, do you know who's playing Claude currently? We haven't heard from his player, which we thought would surely happen with this message board being set up. And he isn't alone, as we don't know who's playing Rena either.

Reply 10 (Ronnie*): As far as I know, nobody's playing him. I certainly haven't given anyone permission to use him. I wondered if my being blocked from his profile had something to do with someone taking him without my permission somehow.

Reply 11 (Ashe): You think he's an NPC? That's weird, because he's unofficially the leader of the group here and he shows behaviors you wouldn't expect out of an NPC.

Reply 12 (Ronnie*): While I thought of it from time to time, I've never played as Claude. And nobody has approached me seriously or respectfully about taking him. Still, I've noticed that kind of thing too. The one hacking investigation request I made came back negative. Maybe I should try that again.

Reply 13 (CJ): I always wondered just how much life Eternal Sphere characters have. Even NPCs can show a great deal of personality. But I never could figure out how one would tell that kind of thing. Anyhow, since you're here Ronnie, want to be one of our supporting members? Since your character is related to Claude, it would be appropriate.

Reply 14 (Ronnie*): Thanks for the offer, CJ. I'll consider it once I review what Claude's been doing. Anything particularly embarrassing I should look out for? (chuckles)

Reply 15 (Ashe): The dance after the royal wedding! Hah, I saved that video myself. Celine was trying to teach him and Rena some courtly dances.

Reply 16 (CJ): Yeah, that's a strong contender for what would embarrass Claude! Although that's hardly the only awkward first time in love scenes between him and Rena. They haven't even admitted it to anybody, even themselves, but the rest of us can see it.

Reply 17 (Ronnie*): (laughs) oh dear, first love time? Actually, that would be accurate. He always had the pressure of following his father's shadow, even in his early days of school, so he never did much about dating in the rest of his teenage years. I know because I checked.

Private post from Penny to Dano: Hey, what's with the star after this guy's name?

Reply 18 (Dano): Well if you do support us, I hope you don't hold that tournament fight against me.

Reply 19 (CJ): I know how that is. You're not sure you want to see those scenes, but you still want to make sure your virtual kids are behaving themselves.

Private post from Dano to Penny: Never seen that before? It is a bit rare; it's for players who took part in Eternal Sphere events that became dramatized on TV, and only those who had starring roles. Just treat him politely like you would any other player. I know some of them get tired of being constantly idolized.

Reply 20 (Ronnie*): No need to worry about that, Dano. It's what happens.

Private post from Penny to Dano: Really? That's so cool! Oh, but I'll try to keep that in mind.

* * *

 

-Ashton, Lacour castle

The tournament had ended several hours ago, but the castle was still noisy. The guards had just started allowing people back into the city as the battle with the monsters had apparently ended well. However, a great many people here were visitors who had expected to be on the road by now. Parts of the castle had been left open for people to stay if they wanted, or for those whose homes had been damaged in the fighting. Still, warnings had been spread, advising caution to those who wished to leave the city. It wasn't clear if the northern fort had been reclaimed or if it had been completely destroyed.

Once the grand doors to the throne room of Lacour Castle were shut, though, all the noise in the rest of the castle was shut off. It made their footsteps against the stone floor seem loud, although any echoes were absorbed by tapestries on the walls. Those grand fabrics showed the coat of arms and emblems for other kingdoms that had once existed on Lacour, before those in this castle overtook them. Opposite the entrance, the gilded throne was set as if on a dramatic stage. Even the lightning served to make the one on the throne seem more powerful than anyone else in the room.

Back in Eluria, there had always been a worry about Lacour's conquering spirit. Technically the kingdom of Cross was larger. But Cross had an easy-going nature, earning its legitimacy by protecting the small villages and towns on its continent. Lacour had fought tooth and nail to earn prominence on its continent and seemed eager to extend its holdings to other lands. Because of this, Ashton mostly expected this to be some kind of show where the king would ask for permission to invade Eluria against the demonic threat, but they would use any victory to claim Elurian land in the process. He didn't like the idea on principle. But realistically, what could he do but give them permission to do so? There was nothing left of Eluria but the land and a handful of people.

It was like Ashton told King Lacour and a few others there when asked about the condition of the Elurian people: “I've not run across many other survivors from Eluria. A great many died on the continent, either in being turned into demons or being attacked by them. Many refugee ships ended up being sunk; the one I ended up on barely made it to the port of Clik and was immediately deemed unseaworthy. It held all the people that I knew were still human and alive at the time, but I can't say for certain if there would be any survivors on Elurian land or not.”

“Then we still need to determine that,” King Lacour said. “What happened to the king of Eluria and your fellow knights?”

“They met the same fate as everyone else,” he admitted, feeling a heavy weight on his heart on saying it. “Either killed by or turned into demons. And once they turned, there was no resemblance to their former selves, either in appearance or personality.”

The king seemed honestly concerned about that. “I see... that's a terrible fate and we can't be sure of how to avoid it. Then what are you doing now?”

“I'm with a group that has been trying to get back onto Eluria,” Ashton said. “Well, technically it's only me going back, but... it started with a pair of young adventurers answering summons from the King of Cross to investigate the Sorcery Globe and see what could be done about it. Rena Lanford and Claude Kenni; you might recognize him from earlier today, as he was in the Swordsmanship finals.”

He nodded. “Ah yes; he is quite good. If you're with them, it ought to be a fairly effective adventuring group.”

“Well now it's the three of us and three more, including the Swordsmanship winner Dias Flac. They've been trying to meet with you in order to get assistance and permission to travel to Eluria. I'm not in charge of the group, but I brought their letter from King Cross.” He brought it out and handed it over when the king looked interested.

“I believe I’ve heard of this,” King Lacour said, reading over the letter. “Mmhmm, the group that got stalled at Clik, but also assisted with an incident in Mars Village. I would love to get some answers myself, and it seems your group could be a good choice to send. But, there are some issues with getting a ship over to Eluria right now. As you noted, many ships that come too near the continent or try to leave Eluria get attacked. Then the nearest port to Eluria was destroyed, as was one of our defense structures facing them. We'd want to send a strong ship, but I’m holding up our fleet for other plans. Although, if your group will agree to assist us with a particular mission, it will make the time when we can reach Eluria safely come around much faster.”

_Bah, bet he just wants you to do his fetch work for him,_ Gyoro grumbled.

“What mission is that?” Ashton asked. Maybe it was that, but he was pretty certain they'd be out of luck finding a private ship with a captain crazy enough to go land at Eluria at this point. “I'll have to talk with the others, but we might help out.”

Accepting that bit of caution, the king explained. “We have been developing a new kind of heraldic weapon with which to fight back against these demonic invaders. We cannot release all the details yet, but a critical part of the weapon's structure requires refined Energy Stone in a quantity and quality that we cannot get on our continent. While we know we need to get to Hoffman Ruins to acquire the material, our military forces are tied up in defending our land against these waves of monsters and demons. We have an expert in energy stone refinement who can handle the technical part, but we need adequate guards to get to the material's source. We can provide protective gear so that you can get there safely, so there's no need to worry about side-effects of being near the energy stone vein.”

_Oh, an energy stone mine?_ Ururun said, but a bit reluctantly. _I dunno about that._

_You were whining about it a while ago,_ Gyoro said, but he didn't even nip at his twin for that.

_Well I can't explain it, except, like, it's like that pharmacist guy said: being away from it feels different, kinda nice actually._

_Guess I can't complain about that._

That made Ashton feel a bit better about going himself, although he might need to take extra precautions still. “All right. I'll talk it over with the others and see what they think.” Hopefully Claude was conscious now.


	24. The Sharp Edge

-Opera, Lacour Castle tournament infirmary

There were good things and bad things about visiting underdeveloped planets. For a good thing, there was learning about how civilizations on such planets viewed the universe. Opera loved figuring out how civilizations developed, how they decided on historical importance, and what they taught their children; that was why her main field of study was history theory. It was also refreshing to be made to look at her own civilization in different ways. But for a very bad thing, there was always the risk of underdeveloped medicine and misunderstanding of biology. For instance, it seemed that Expel didn't have much understanding about concussions, possibly about brain damage in general. This ended up with her knowing a little about what should be done with Claude, but the trained doctor on hand Bowman didn't know much rather than leaving him be.

Then again, Rena's spells did seem to be having an effect, if slowly. Opera didn't know much about healing symbology. She knew that recent studies had made it grow more precise, but in the Earth Federation, it was commonly used in conjuncture with medical techniques born of scientific understanding. For the most part, it was still relatively new to the Earth and Tetragenes cultures.

The blue haired girl came back into the room with Precis, Dias, and Bowman's wife Precis. They had just about forced her to take a break to get something to eat. While she still had rings under her eyes from the effort she'd been putting into her spells, she wasn't as shaky as she'd been an hour ago. “How's he doing?” Rena asked.

“The color's returned to his face and I can't find a trace of the bruise he had on his head earlier,” Bowman said. “I think he's going to be all right once he wakes up.” Opera couldn't be quite as sure of that; the effects of such injuries could linger hidden for quite some time. But she hoped he was right.

“You still wanna try it?” Precis asked, worried. “I mean, we all want him to get better, but you were just about to pass out yourself.”

“I should try them at least once,” Rena said. She seemed like she felt guilty about Claude's injury for some reason. Perhaps it had something to do with her and Precis helping Dias to find a tournament sponsor; it had caused a spat between her and Claude before the event started, although it seemed to have faded by today.

“What are you doing?” Bowman asked. “It's not healthy to use heraldry that much in one day, even with the best practitioners.”

“Well I could sleep once I know he's better,” Rena said. “But while we were eating, I had some ideas for improving my healing spells. Although I wish that Celine was still with us, since she might know about upgrading spells better.”

Bowman went over to her and took her hand. “Well let me make sure you're in good enough condition to be casting first.”

“Oh, hey!” A young woman appeared in the doorway, glancing around. “Hope I'm not being a bug, ha hah. Opera, I told you I could find you as long as you had my handy stick.” Welch then came in, a big smile on her face.

Hoping it might lighten the mood some, Opera chuckled. “Well, so you did come. Did you finish it?”

“Well, no and yes,” she said, digging in the bag at her side.

“Who's this friend of yours?” Precis asked, instantly curious about a device Welch had hooked on her belt.

“This is Welch, a craftswoman I met in the market today,” Opera explained. “Hey Rena, you know that bracelet we've been swapping back and forth to figure out how it works? Welch recognized it and said she could upgrade it to work better.”

“Huh, really?” Rena asked, distracted briefly. “It just made stray things appear in our bags.”

Welch then pulled out the little golden bracelet from her bag. “Ta-da-dah! And now it'll bring you even more good luck and better items! But. Um. There's a thing about it.” She walked over to Rena and showed her the colored beads. “Using my talents and techniques, I was able to upgrade it one level from Mischief to Trickster. But a nice Trickster, I promise. As you can see, there's still some spaces for more beads on it. I thought I could upgrade it one more time and make it the best it can ever be, but oh my gosh, the last upgrade requires beads of a potent but rare mineral that I just can't get a hold of in only a few hours. But still, an improvement is an improvement, so here you are.”

“Oh, thank you,” she said, taking it. “More good luck, is it? Maybe it'll help with my healing powers and Claude.”

“You never know,” Welch said. “As I told Opera, I don't need any payment for this. It was such excitement to have this rare piece in my hands and be able to study it, that's more than enough for a creator like me.”

“And here's your handy stick back,” Opera said, passing the strange item back over. “Thanks again.”

“No trouble! Welp, I have other deliveries to make, so have fun kiddos.” She then bounded out of the room, energetic as before.

“A little good luck couldn't hurt in this case,” Bowman said. “Fine, I'll let you try again, but then you really need to get some rest yourself, young lady.”

“Thanks,” Rena said, slipping the Trickster onto her wrist. Then she went to sit on the edge of the bed where Claude was. The little silver star pendant that she always wore shimmered when she put her hands over his head. “There's two. First, Dispel to remove any impurities.” With the casting of her spell, a white spell crest rapidly formed beneath both of them, causing a soft glow to drift upward. It was soothing simply to look at it. Rena took a deep breath as the crest faded, then closed her eyes. “Then... Cure Light... should be... more powerful healing.” This time, a rich light of gold and green surrounded Rena's hands and Claude's body. For some reason, seeing it reminded Opera of place like Shigeo Forest, powerful locations where nature would quietly embrace any who entered.

Nineh was soon by Rena's side, supporting her with an arm at her back. “Careful there,” she said gently.

“I'm good,” Rena said, although she sounded worn out.

More importantly, Claude finally stirred. First a shudder of his upper body, then movement of his hands. His eyes opened and, thankfully, soon focused on Rena and Nineh as the two nearest people. “Xjev jeqqipif? O xet op vji gopemt, epf...”

“Huh?” Rena asked, looking at him blankly.

Opera put her hands over her face. Oh drat, this was major problem. Dias' last attack must have also damaged Claude's universal translator, to the point where even her modified translator couldn't make sense of it. And she'd never considered studying the main language of the Earth Federation because translator breakdowns were rare, supposedly almost unheard of. She knew how the devices worked, so there might be something she could do to fix it. But that would require a time when it was just her and Claude so they could work on the advanced technology without the Expellians seeing.

“Um, did you hit him so hard that he can't even talk straight?” Precis asked Dias. Claude looked at them, equally puzzled.

“I've never seen that happen before,” Dias said.

“Jux fu xua puv apfistvepf...?” Claude said, sitting up then putting his hand behind his ear. Rena's spells must have worked enough that he didn't feel any tenderness in doing so. But he did look concerned.

“Hang on, I think I have something,” Opera said, coming over. Once Claude was looking at her, she asked carefully, “Do you understand us?”

Claude nodded. “Tunivjoph natv ci xsuph xovj ny vseptmevus.”

“Then it's just that we can't understand you,” she said, nodding knowingly. Thinking quickly, she turned to the others. “You know we're both from another land, right? Well the thing is, our land actually has two different languages, neither of which are spoken on the other three lands. But we do have knowledge of an enchantment that allows our people to speak freely no matter what language. But, it seems something's gone wrong with his so that we hear his native tongue, not what any of us would understand.”

“That's odd,” Rena said.

“But that would be totally useful in a situation like your land, where one language hasn't overtaken another,” Precis said brightly. “How does it work? I mean, I don't get heraldry, most of it, but I wonder if you could do the same with machines.”

Claude smiled at that, while Opera couldn't keep down a chuckle herself. “Well I'm not at liberty to explain further. Besides, I wouldn't be able to explain how it works best as it is. But I do know enough about it that I might be able to help him fix it. It could take a little time while we figure out where it's gone wrong, though.”

“You'll have to communicate with body language then,” Bowman said. “Well you took a hard hit to the head, Claude. I want to ask you some things to make sure you're fine. And Rena, you need to sleep.”

“All right, I will,” she said, smiling. Nineh helped her over to a free bed, where she soon fell asleep.

Claude looked after her, seeming concerned. Bowman explained, “She came right down here once she heard you were doing poorly. There wasn't much I could do, but she used her magic a lot trying to get you to recover. She even came up with stronger versions of her spells to make certain.”

“Tji fof?” Claude asked, still concerned about her but seeming surprised to hear that.

Absorbed by something in his mind, Dias walked off, to check on Rena and find a less active part of the infirmary to think. Bowman was already asking Claude some questions, trying to work them into yes or no forms, or something Claude could point about. Opera turned to Precis. “Well, something like this was bound to happen.” Then she added in a lower tone, “I hope it doesn't hurt the group; I've liked traveling with all of you.”

“Hmm, yeah,” Precis said. “Maybe we should think of something to do to cheer everyone up, and get everybody to work together. We should be as one heart when we go to a place like Eluria and the Sorcery Globe.” She put her fists up to her chest in an excited gesture; such heavy events weren't about to keep her spirits down.

Opera nodded. “Certainly. Of one heart, huh?”

“It's from some adventure books I liked reading as a kid,” she said. “I got such a thrill reading them, and working on machines. I always hoped for an adventure like this where I could have both at once.”

“It is great when you find ways to combine what you love,” she agreed. “Now if I could just find my errant boyfriend, this adventure would be one of my greatest yet.”

“Well if he's an adventurer too, the Sorcery Globe is the most intriguing thing out there,” Precis said. “We might just find him on the way there.”

As she had been speaking, someone else came into the infirmary. Ashton this time, from his second meeting with the King of Lacour. He seemed quite serious too. “Oh good, Claude's back awake,” he said. “But what about Rena?”

“She wore herself out helping him,” Precis said. “And there's some kind of heraldry mishap that makes it so we can't understand a thing that Claude says, but he can understand us so we'll figure it out somehow.”

“Kurruu?” Ururun asked, tilting his head.

“That is odd,” Ashton said. “I hope it can get fixed. Anyhow, I needed to talk with all of you about a proposal from the king. He can get us to Eluria, but first, he wants us to help him on a mission to Hoffman Ruins. It seems reasonable, but I'd rather wait until morning when everyone's alert enough to discuss it.”

“Wait, Hoffman?” Opera asked, feeling a burst of hope after all these delays. “That's the only clue we got from Mountain Palace about where Ernest might have went! I'm all for that plan.”

“Oh, I've read about that place,” Precis said. “Could be fun, but we'd have to convince everybody.”

“I will convince them, one way or another,” Opera said, playfully making a dramatic pose that made the other two laugh. But in all seriousness, she really hoped the others would agree to it. Ernest had been gone an awful long time, even for him. She had a sinking feeling that something bad had happened to him.

* * *

 

-Dias, Port Hilton

After a discussion on how to get to Eluria, it came to be that they'd be doing some other task for the Lacourian king in order to come along on an invasion of the continent. Dias wasn't too thrilled about doing field work for someone else who'd stay in a safe comfortable castle. Someone who'd do that would probably take advantage of people in other ways too. However, Rena and her friends were going and after some thought, Dias agreed to come too. Hoffman Ruins seemed to be a good place to test himself, at least.

He was currently sitting on a bench at the side of a sailing ship, waiting for the ship's crew to head north to Hoffman Island. Rena and some of her friends were nearby, talking happily about things of no consequence. Listening to them made him feel a bit left out, but he tried to look more annoyed at the wait so no one thought he was weak like that. As the calls from the sailors seem to indicate that they'd be moving soon, Opera and Claude reappeared from below the deck where they had been to see how things were down there.

“Hey, we've got good news,” Opera said merrily. “We've got Claude's translation enchantment functioning again.”

“That's great,” Rena said, smiling wide.

“My words might be off kilter from damage, but we can talk with again,” Claude said. “Just say something if I'm not entirely crystal.”

“Good timing for it, since we'll be talking with the castle's lead scientist about the mission soon,” Ashton said. “He needs to instruct us on their precautions in mining the mineral.”

“Yes, that be important,” Claude said. Then, for whatever reason, he came over and sat down near Dias. “It's good to know you're coming with us too,” he said, more just to him as the others were getting back into chatting.

Why did he have to come talk to him? Did Claude forgive that easily or did he forget the battle entirely? Dias didn't know if he could be as forgiving in Claude's position, given that he'd hurt both him and Rena in that fight. “Got nothing better to do,” he said. “I thought I'd stick around to protect Rena, but seeing that she's surrounded by several talented people, it may not have been necessary.”

“I’m sure she's happier about it,” he said. “She worries about you a lot.”

Dias snorted. “Did you see how worked up she got over you? But if you're going to talk to me, I might as well express my appreciation.” He got his travel pack and checked on its enchantment to find a particular item. These bags could hold more than they seemed, but it took some practice to navigate their holding system.

“Appreciation for what?” Claude asked, curious.

“For actually giving me a challenge in battle,” he said, pulling out the sword Sharp Edge in its case. “That whole tournament was an embarrassment, from most of the equipment to the lacking in other fighters. But I actually had to use my full efforts against you, which hasn't happened in quite some time.”

Claude actually looked embarrassed at that. “Really? I mean, yeah, I had to do the same against you, since you were quite a step beyond from everyone else I faced.”

“Don't get your ego inflated too much by that,” Dias said. “Getting cocky will only lead to mistakes. You only got the armor and prize money, right? I want you to have this.” He passed over the sword.

“Oh, the sword you were using?” Claude asked, pulling it out of the scabbard partly.

Dias nodded. “That Sharp Edge is a real example of what Lacour is famous for, not the junk that most of the merchants had. But I still have my father's katana; it was made with our style in mind. I don't need another sword and that one would suit you well.”

“It appear better than the longsword I got from Artis,” Claude said, sliding the sword back in place. “Thank you.”

Dias shrugged and for a few moments, there was an awkward silence between them. What did people like to talk about these days? Dias could remember speaking freely with anyone back in Arlia. But with all the things that had happened to him in between, well, this didn't really feel normal. He should try.

Thankfully, he got out of having to pick something else to talk awkwardly about as the Lacourian soldiers approached them. There was a strange child with them, a boy who looked to be twelve on the short side but had many features that should belong to a cat: ears with fur that matched his blue hair, fine whiskers by his nose, even what might be a tail if it wasn't a belt under his white coat. What kind of person looked like that? Sure, Opera had three eyes, but that at least was readily explained as heraldry. Dias didn't think heraldry could warp someone this much.

“You all are the fighters that are going into the ruins with me?” the boy asked, looking over them.

“Yes, but you're going too?” Claude asked, reasonably puzzled at this too.

The cat boy nodded. “I'm Leon Geeste, the head scientist and researcher of the Lacour Castle labs. I'm in charge of this mission as well as refining the material.”

“I didn't hear that we'd be taking a kitten with us,” Dias said, causing Claude by him to cringe.

“I am not a kitten,” Leon insisted, twisting his ears back.

“Master Leon is a respected scientist, so keep that in mind,” one of the castle soldiers warned.

“Right,” the boy said, still seeming annoyed. “Onto the business at hand, even if none of you should be handling the energy stone material directly, you need to know about the proper methods of being near the unrefined veins and keeping yourself protected from the immense heraldic energy they contain. We have brought along the proper protective gear, but be mindful of my instructions if you wish to keep your mind in good shape.”

It didn't take long of listening to him for Dias to realize that Leon had an understanding of heraldry and science way above any of the rest of them (except maybe Precis with her machine obsession). The kid's attitude still rubbed him the wrong way. But this was a dangerous job in more than just monsters and demons, so he paid attention to the explanations.

* * *

 

-4D, Enlo's home

Enlo wanted to keep an eye on what Leon was doing in the Eternal Sphere, but he had things to do in 4D as well. So he kept a screen on the wall showing an image of the scene his character was in. “The gloves are primarily to make sure that your bare skin doesn't come in contact with the raw Energy Stone,” Leon said to the gathered group of adventurers. Which coincidentally enough, turned out to be the Sorcery Globe investigation group that C.J. led. “The hairbands are the most important protection we have. They have heraldic crests engraved on them which will counteract the mental influence that the mineral has.”

“I hope you have extras,” Ashton said. “Because I think I'm going to need to give one to each of these dragons.” Gyoro grumbled a bit at that, but Ururun seemed fine with it.

Meanwhile, Enlo had gotten distracted from looking into what the Sorcery Globe was doing to Expel. A short time before Leon had approached the group, Dias had given a sword to Claude as an apology without saying so. It happened fairly often, but usually it was an NPC gifting a PC a reward item. Not so here, as the PC was gifting an NPC. Yet Claude was a very complex NPC, enough that the players hadn't fully realized what he was. It was interesting seeing what Claude did.

That led to Enlo checking out the stats on the Sharp Edge and finding something incredible. It was an NPC crafted weapon, yes, but it was quite the special weapon. If modified in the proper fashion, it could turn into a one in a trillion item (and that was being generous with estimates). It could become the Eternal Sphere, a sword that had the game itself for a namesake. It was a weapon that many players longed to have. In the past, 4D players had traded away extraordinary characters, such as an exceptionally talented royal prince coming out of a heritage game where a single player went through several generations of a family, in order for another character of theirs to get possession of an Eternal Sphere. And in all of the game's hundreds of trillions of years of play, an Eternal Sphere had never been used in battle by an NPC fighter.

“But what if it was?” Enlo mumbled, a grin starting to appear on his face.

NPCs weren't supposed to be capable of producing a weapon of the Eternal Sphere's caliber. At least, most 4D beings didn't believe it was so. But knowing the code as intimately as he did, he saw no reason why an NPC couldn't. There were no restrictions, only the required capability to customize weapons, knowledge of what materials were needed, and some luck. As for Claude, he had the talents and his knowledge was sufficient enough to customize, if someone were to instruct him on what that was. The materials needed were actually quite simple in the case of the Sharp Edge, just two mithril (rare, but the other NPC Rena had managed to acquire the Trickster artifact which was entirely capable of producing mithril out of thin air). That meant the real obstacles here were teaching Claude to customize weapons and getting him sufficient luck to be successful.

“Luck's easy to tamper with, easy to get away with tampering with,” Enlo said to himself, making notes and calculations in a separate file. “As for customizing, Leon's familiar with the process from working on the Lacour Hope and this Hoffman Ruins mission is going to take some time... would be easy to find obstacles to artificially extend the mission a few days as well. I just need to get Leon to be friends with Claude in time and nudge them into discussing the subject. But this would help break the ground, give a more easily seen proof of my theories on the Milky Way's development. Oh, but I can't be messing with his data directly, since that would be me controlling him in the crafting. Have to make him want to, know what to do, and then give him an edge it actually getting it done...”

“Ahoy, captain!” His robot butler zipped into the room, giving a salute. “We have a visitor!”

Enlo tensed. A visitor? “Who'd come into this area?” he wondered.

“It's Blair,” the butler promptly answered.

That got him to relax; he even stretched his arms up. “Oh, really? Huh, guess it's the first time meeting her face to face in this lifetime. Although given what we've gotten into, it was bound to happen.” He saved his work and was in the front room when she knocked on the door. “That was quick,” he said.

“You're looking better than I expected,” Blair said, her hands on her hips. She wore the silver-gray uniform of the Sphere Company employees, with the pins to show that she was a high-ranking employee. In 4D's current state, that pretty much allowed her to be anywhere she wanted and do practically anything.

“Well aside from one incident that the safety net caught, I haven't had any bad accidents with the coding this time around,” Enlo said. “What're your thoughts on this?”

“You need to get what gear you need and tell me who we're seeing,” she replied, clearly not wanting to waste time. “I've confirmed that the error still exists when it was supposed to have been corrected, so this needs to be taken care of immediately, whatever must be done. And given the current corporate atmosphere, you're going to work quicker than anyone under me. You will, won't you?”

“Yes, m'am,” he said, heading back in to get what equipment he could take out of his home. It felt nice to finally be taken seriously by the company. But then again, this was entirely his own fault, so he couldn't be careless at all this time.


	25. New Character Acclimation

-4D, CJ's home

The atmosphere in her home was tense. Dr. Halls had come back to check on her, but not for normal reasons. “Why are you being so difficult in this process?” he asked her, not even hiding his intent behind niceness.

Recalling some information from the forms, CJ replied, “You've been harming my life more than helping it, doctor. I'm not ready to step down any time soon. I've got a message board to run, things to do with friends, and goals I have yet to meet.”

“Even we are not meant to live forever,” he said. “At your advanced age, the risk for mental instability is extremely high and dementia could occur with little forewarning.”

“But even you've said that my mental facilities are still functioning appropriately,” she pointed out. “I'm fine, but by taking my characters from me, you've been intentionally pushing me towards such problems. Thus it's entirely within my rights to object to what you're doing.”

“You're holding up the cycle that our society runs peacefully on. It's selfish and you should consider the feelings of your younger friends who would be looking into having families of their own.”

A knock at the door interrupted their discussion. “I’ll see who it is,” CJ's robot butler said.

“This meeting is not to be interrupted,” Dr. Halls said, shifting something on his watch.

The robot paused in its movements, impeded by him for a moment. Somehow, it pushed on to the door. “This is the home of CJ, how may I...?”

A second robot butler burst through the door, knocking her's aside. “Tremble in fear, ye puny landlubber!” it stated with a cackle.

“Chill out, buddy,” a man said, coming into the house while pulling along a large suitcase on wheels. He had shaggy blue hair that nearly covered his eyes, while his clothes were artfully rumpled. Or maybe not even artfully. “Sorry to disrupt; it's an emergency.”

“This is a medical network assessment,” Dr. Halls said sternly, going over to the door as an elegant brown-haired woman came in too. “It is unlawful to disrupt such meetings.”

“Sorry, but you're outranked,” the woman said. CJ got up out of curiosity and noticed a shiny metal pin on the woman's uniform. It seemed familiar. “We're here on business with the Sphere Company to discuss matters of great importance with CJ.”

“She's under restrictions, so she can't,” Dr. Halls started to say.

But the woman quickly stopped him by stepping right up to him and putting her hand on his chest. “And I don't like your group unnecessarily messing with our players in that manner, doctor. I know what you did and we're going to work on undoing your unreasonable restrictions.” While he sputtered, she added, “Normally we wouldn't be this direct, but as the man said, an emergency situation forgoes our usual process. I expect you to leave at this moment and not disturb CJ again, are we clear?”

“Fine, but your company will be hearing about this,” Dr. Halls said spitefully. He came back to get his things and left without further word.

CJ wasn't sure whether to be delighted with this rescue or concerned about an emergency worth a Sphere Company leader visiting a regular citizen's home. “Thanks for ordering him out,” she said, coming over to greet them herself, as well as check on her butler. The robot seemed uncertain of what to do with these visitors, looking at all three with its lights flickering wildly. “But who are you and what's so important that you had to come to me yourselves?”

The woman smiled warmly and shook her hand. “Sorry to barge in so suddenly. My name is Blair, a lead programmer and moderator in the Sphere Company, and my friend here is Enlo. We've come here to ask for your assistance.”

“Nice to see you in person, CJ,” Enlo said, shaking her hand too. “And don't mind my butler; he's here to help us keep a low presence in the computer networks and keep your butler cooperative in this process.”

“Greetings, fair lady,” the visiting butler said with a bow.

On one hand, she knew Enlo was a hacker. But on the other hand, one of the lead programmers of the Eternal Sphere? If she was here, then it couldn't be completely illegal. Or maybe they'd keep any blame off her. “Well if you can get my restrictions lifted, I'll be happy to help you with whatever you need,” CJ said. “Please, come in and sit down. What's the emergency?”

Blair took the offer to come over to her couch and sit to talk. Meanwhile, Enlo opened up his suitcase to set up his equipment. “Honestly, it's four problems in one that add up to a devastating series of events,” Blair said. Counting off on her fingers, “One, Expel is at high risk of being completely destroyed in an unforeseen event. Two, a problematic character race that I thought had been eliminated from the game on the Milky Way server turns out to have a surviving group that we have no easy way to access. Three, the unbalanced super bosses that go along with that race are also active and on Expel instead of where they should be imprisoned. And four, there's an ugly game-breaking glitch which apparently was swept under the rug out of my sight instead of being properly corrected. It's unfair to expect a common player like you to be able to handle all of that. However, you can help us with sidestepping normal security protocol so that the two of us can better access the information to solve all four issues.”

Expel could be destroyed? The other problems sounded bad too, but that one hit closest to her heart. It was such a nice world that she immediately made it her preferred home world within hours of finding it. “Oh... well I'm not too comfortable with going around security, but this sounds really bad.”

Blair nodded. “Part of the reason we want your help is that we know you're a good honest player who wouldn't abuse the opportunity we're giving you. Do you know of the Nede conflict in the earlier versions of the Eternal Sphere?”

It took her a moment, but she recalled it. “Yes... they were glitched somehow, weren't they? And players used them recklessly to dominate the galaxy.”

“Their growth formulas were inadequately tested for balance,” Enlo said, now checking on CJ's robot butler. “It allowed mage type characters of the Nedian race to become hilariously overpowered, or hideously if you happened to be fighting one. That's why mages in following builds were much weaker and fewer planets started off with heraldry knowledge; the problem was over-corrected until about two versions ago.”

“As I've read, it was something we didn't like doing, but players and moderators insisted,” Blair said. “I had thought that the Nedians were completely taken out, but as it turns out, there is a group that still exists and this isn't the first time they've popped up again. They showed up on another server following an alternate time line not that long ago. However, someone in the company locked the main server's group away behind strong security measures. Even our most notorious code cracker here can't easily get past it. But we've figured out a way to allow someone to claim a character behind the protected field; we want you to be that player. Once you're in, we can then observe the situation by using your connection through the security.”

“Like tapping a communications line, sort of,” Enlo added.

“If it helps save Expel, I’ll do it,” CJ said. Then she smiled. “Besides, it sounds fun to play as a race that no one's been allowed to touch for generations. We just have to be careful not to get one of the glitched mages, right?”

“Technically, they were all glitched,” Enlo said. “But I know what to look for and can screen out more abusive possibilities. Besides, we can't accurately judge if there's been power creep in the time since, so a Nedian character may not be as overwhelming as it was in the past.”

“We just have to try one out and see,” Blair said. “Thank you, CJ. I'll see about undoing your restrictions, which has to be done anyhow to get you in. Although, since there's a lot of work to be done, you may wish to pass off any active characters you have to someone else. We'd rather what we're doing not be spoken of much for the time being, so just reassure whoever you adopt to that you've been recruited on a special secret mission by the company.”

“Sure, I think I know who to ask,” CJ said. “What do we need to do?”

“Let's get you to your gaming room so we can pass into the secured space,” Enlo said. “Game rules forbid us from creating a new Nedian character, but we can bend it enough to allow you to adopt one currently active. Hopefully we can find somebody you like.”

Much of what happened in the next ten minutes, CJ wasn't sure what it was all about. She understood when Blair got into the game's settings and lifted the restrictions, and when Enlo set the walls of the room to show inside the Eternal Sphere. Those were simple. But past that... Enlo went into her player profile and got to the new character adoption screen 'through the back', as he said. Then he and Blair had to try several methods to get the 'planetary origin' screen to settle on a huge energy body sitting unnervingly close to Expel. It looked like a pink, blue-green, and white supernova, stopped in a moment of explosion. Once they did, Enlo worked furiously through a tablet input and a floating cube display of programming to get past the 'forbidden zone' security, while Blair communicated with an angelic creature that seemed to live within the Eternal Sphere as company security.

Once they got past the security measures, the camera for the wall display dove into the energy body, past its shields and settling on what looked to be an artificial planetoid. A lush wilderness filled a full third of the planet, encircling an ocean that held about two dozen islands. Some were small, but most were of good size and held a few towns. In a box on one of the walls, Tria gave information on this place called Energy Nede. There was a small population of just over a million inhabitants, its atmosphere was suitable for most playable races (rated 'superb' in cleanliness and natural balance), and its technology level was rated as the highest possible in 'post-scarcity, extraordinary development, nearest to 4D level'.

“Wow, that's really close to our situation,” CJ noted.

Blair rubbed her chin. “Huh, you're right. I wonder how close they are... what are you grinning for, Enlo?”

The hacker laughed a little. “Why shouldn't we be excited to get into this place? It's been untouched by anyone from 4D in hundreds of trillions of years their time!”

“The security system will kick us out if we waste too much time,” Blair reminded him.

“Fine, fine, let's run an analysis of past characters against current residents to find one who matches your preferred play style,” Enlo said, doing so. CJ's screen at her immersion chair brought up the 'Select Random Adoptable NPC' option, rotating through a fair number until it settled on three women. Then it appeared on one of the walls so the other two could see. “These fine ladies should be close to a character you would build yourself. I can do a quick action preview on each, but it won't be full because of how we got in. And... we have Dr. Mirage Milhne, a symbology scientist... oh, it's called heraldry here too, huh. A heraldry scientist and engineer, she has special authority to craft weapons and other restricted items. Not trained for battle.”

“Restrictions on weapons?” Blair asked. “Interesting.”

CJ watched the action preview, although since Mirage was not a battle character, there wouldn't be much to see even in a full preview. She also got to look into her personality, which noted that Mirage was a savant for this advanced race, blunt, disrespectful, and analytical. She could make incredible objects (which on a planet like this would truly be incredible) but rarely worked for herself. “I do like craftsmen, especially for enchanted objects. Although, since this involves some super bosses like you said, would these characters get involved with the battle?”

“It's a possibility,” Blair said. “It depends on how much the Nedians here can do about the Expel situation and what the bosses' intentions are.”

“I think I'd want to go with someone who'd get involved with the battles then,” CJ said. “Mirage would be interesting, but I'll pass on her.”

“All right, well it seems the other two would fight,” Enlo said. “Next we had Ma... no, General Marianna Rothwell. Wow, she heads Energy Nede's Defense Force? You wouldn't think they'd have one with that barrier keeping anyone from coming or going.”

“Did you ask for skilled characters?” Blair asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Given the situation is right at hand, I thought it'd be better that way,” he said.

“It'll be a harder acclimation, but I can handle it,” CJ said, watching the action preview.

Apparently Marianna was a straight up battle mage; her 'weapon' was a pair of fingerless gloves that enhanced her casting abilities. Her personality profile noted that she was strict and serious on the job, someone who tolerated no nonsense during battle. But off-duty, she was secretly a romantic person and was lighthearted with friends. CJ was enchanted by her mixture of being hard and soft hearted depending on the situation. However, there was also the fact that her casting rate, power, and stamina seemed completely unreal compared Celine and other battle-ready mages CJ had played.

“Still, she seems like one of those overpowered Nedians who ruined everyone's fun back when,” she added. “I don't know about taking on someone like that.”

“True, it'd cause a stronger reaction when news of this gets out,” Blair said.

“All right, but then we've just got one more before you might have to get out of your comfort zone,” Enlo said. “Last one is Chisato Madison, ace field reporter for the Nedian Chronicles. That is... the sole news media group for the entirety of Energy Nede. She is also of the highest rank in Nede's martial arts hobby group, has been known to occasionally battle in the Fun City Tournaments.”

“We definitely have to tag her,” Blair said.

According to the action preview, Chisato could use her martial arts purely weaponless or with the addition of a stun gun and heraldic special moves. It looked impressive and acrobatic, as well as more energetic than any other character CJ had played. Her personality profile showed that she had a passion for truth and a love for life, and both for good food. Because of her morals, having only one media source irked her and she only worked for them to keep the news as fair and unbiased as she could. Her stats, interestingly enough, were not as absurd as Mirage or Marianna. In CJ's limited interpretation of the numbers, Chiasto looked like she could pass for a regular PC on another world, if a very good one.

“She looks like a lot of fun,” CJ said. Not only that, but she could felt like she could click immediately into being Chisato's player. She couldn't remember feeling that way about any other character she had adopted rather than created from scratch like Celine. “I'd love to take her.”

“Excellent, I think that works great from all angles,” Blair said. “Go ahead and take her.”

She nodded and filled out the adoption form on her screen. Her name, citizenship number, and so on... when it came time to pick the game genre, she picked 'General RP' so as not to limit what she'd be doing. Once she clicked submit, Blair and Enlo quickly approved it before the automatic processes picked up on the rule-bending. Then it brought up the character data screen.

 

_Planet-Energy Nede_

_Character- Chisato Madison_

_Style- general roleplay_

_Quest status- Research for articles (1) potential pet abuse of Kusia Birds of Paradise (2) Ten Wise Men's return series. Interview Noel Chandler in the Outer Wall Nature Preserve on both articles._

_Play as Chisato?_

 

“Even better as she's on the case already,” Blair said happily. “We got lucky here.”

“No kidding,” CJ said.

In contrast, Enlo looked shocked to see what was on the data screen. “W-w-w-wait, Noel Chandler? Noel, does it mean that Noel?” He quickly went into a character search on Energy Nede. It promptly brought up an image of what seemed to be a Fellpool, with pale brown hair in a style suspiciously close to Enlo's. “Oh gods...”

“Enlo?” Blair asked, concerned.

“What about him?” CJ asked, curious enough that she delayed immersing.

“How the hell is he still alive?” Enlo asked, gripping his hair. But then a smile came onto his face. “Oh my gosh, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to lose my composure. Noel's an old character of mine. I lost him to a case of possession and was absolutely certain that it had killed him. I was depressed about it for years because the loss came out of nowhere; you have no idea how happy I am just to know that he's still around, even if I can't explain it.”

“Can you at least explain what he's doing on Energy Nede?” Blair asked. “He doesn't look Nedian, not one bit, and that field should be impenetrable with the Earth Federation's technology level.”

He shook his head. “I can't explain that either. But you can bet I’m going to find out how, one way or another. But let's get you going with Chisato, CJ, as we might lose this connection otherwise.”

She nodded. “Okay! And it's amazing that you found him again.”

“Oh yes, completely amazing,” Enlo said, as happy as can be.

With the two of them ready to start examining the conditions of Energy Nede, CJ immersed herself into this previously closed off world.

* * *

 

-Energy Nede, Outer Wall Nature Preserve, Chisato

The violet-furred gorilla had the power to bring down brick and stone walls with its bare fists. Said fist was hurtling towards her head. Chisato shifted her body weight to narrowly avoid the fist, then grabbed hold of the animal's arm firmly and flipped it over into a nearby tree; only its momentum let her do so. Bark and leaves came tumbling down, but the tree was so old and study that it would have been barely a poke to it. While the animal was trying to recover, she took a few steps back, considering what she should do.

The gorilla got back onto its feet and rubbed its head. It turned to look her in the eyes, the stare off lasting for a good minute. Then, it lost whatever aggression had overcome it and shuffled off into the undergrowth. She didn't need to bring out her stun gun to fight it off.

“Phew, that was a close one,” she said quietly. Then she looked around at the ancient forest around her. Normally this would be a peaceful walk where the animals would ignore the passing visitors. “What is going on here?” Clenching her fist, she shouted up into the trees. “Noel! I know you're around here somewhere! It's Chisato; come out of hiding!”

Calling for him didn't always work. Thankfully, it did this time. There was a rustling of leaves overhead before a huge one descended to the forest floor. So he was up in the canopy? Chisato walked onto the leaf and sat down with her legs crossed. Having done this in the past, she knew this was the best way to be when the leaf lifted into the air and rose hundreds of feet alongside the ancient trees. It brought her to the lofty perch of the Nature Preserve's head zoologist (because he was the only one willing to work with wild animals) and one of the few active rangers on all of Energy Nede.

“Be very careful,” Noel immediately said as she got to her feet. He pointed to a nearby branch where a beautiful blue snake was resting. “Sapphire Tree Snake, producer of a toxin that could kill either of us in a couple of minutes. I just milked most of her poison for the Central City hospital, but had to sedate her in order to do it. Normally I can get them to cooperate with just gentle words.”

Chisato stepped onto the main branch, soon finding a branch growth that allowed her to sit comfortably facing Noel. “What's going on here today? I had a gorilla attack me savagely; thought I might lose a limb for a moment. Normally I can get them to play wrestle me, but this was serious.”

Noel's feline ears twisted about, like he was alert to something. “In the past few months, the animals will all get agitated at once because of a presence that enters the forest. It's only for brief periods now, but the increasing frequency of it is alarming. I believe that the shield which protects Energy Nede is weakening, because the presence is most like that of the Ten Wise Men. Ever since they moved onto that planet, it's like they're poking pinholes into the shield.”

If it was anyone else, Chisato would ask how he knew about the attacks on the shields. The Nede government still wasn't allowing them to tell the Nedian people about it. But this was Noel and he would know better than most citizens. She nodded. “Keep this to yourself, but the engineers have had to repair quite a few of these pinholes. Then it's affecting the animals too?”

“It's milder than what they've been doing to the native animals on Expel,” Noel said, sadness coming into his voice. Chisato raised her eyebrows at hearing that. Normally the best way to tell his mood was to watch his ears and tail, as Noel tended to have a monotone emotionless voice.

“Should I warn people to be careful of the preserve areas?” When he nodded, she went to grab her tablet to make notes, but found the box she had brought. “Oh yeah, your assistant said you've been out here for weeks, so I brought some lunch along this time. It's sushi; I made sure to get the ingredients fresh from the market just before I left for here.” She detached one box from the other and handed it over to him.

Noel looked at her suspiciously for a moment, but then nodded and accepted it. “Thank you. I'm fine out here, but sushi would be nice.”

To manage her work and meal at the same time, Chiasto hooked the handle of her lunch box to a knot in the tree, then brought out her work tablet and set it on her lap. It had a wrist strap to keep it from falling out of the canopy, or from wherever she happened to be working. “They had nice looking fish in the tank too, so this should be great. Okay, so I looked into your concerns about the birds of paradise that have been trained to act as living fashion pieces. Some of the owners check out just fine and treat their birds well, if not spoiling them outright. But one of the bird trainers is definitely out of legal bounds. The police wanted a review from you before they moved to arrest the trainer.”

“One would think with your civilization's level, animal abuse would be immediately apparent if not non-existent,” Noel said, this time twitching his tail in annoyance.

“It would be the first case in a long time,” she said, then had a holographic projector play the video she had discretely taken of the training facility. Noel was uncomfortable watching it, but he was quick to point out problems that she hadn't picked up on.

Once the video was over, he said, “That's not exactly good dining discussion.” After taking a moment to put it out of his mind, he opened up the box and took out one of the sushi rolls.

“Sorry, I didn't think of that,” Chisato said. She was used to eating in any condition. “I've got your statements recorded, so I can give that to the police if you don't want to write up a full report for them.”

“That'd be good,” Noel said. “I need to stay in the forest. Through using the spirits of the trees, I can counter the presence agitating the animals. Although... it's not working so well today, as you noticed. The last contact lasted longer than before. Almost got to me too.” His ears lowered as he shifted his position nervously.

“You holding up?” Chiasto asked in concern. She'd call Noel an acquaintance more than a friend. But then, knowing as much about him as she did and having talked to him more than most people, this didn't seem characteristic of him.

“The trees give me solace as well,” he added, not entirely paying attention to her.

“Noel?” She waved a bit and tried smiling to distract him. “Hey, I'm sure that if anyone can help keep the animals here calm, it's you. And you know, I always admired your dedication to your job. Lots of people say we could just leave this to the environmental computers, but you really care.”

“You've been protected for far too long,” he said. “Even with your technology, which I know you've grown to not understand, I doubt your people would fare well if brought out of isolation. Still, you don't deserve to have the sins of your forefathers dumped on you like this. And neither does Expel.” He glanced upward, to the sky where a shadow of the planet could be seen; it was that close. “Are they having any luck correcting the orbits?”

“The folks in charge of that keep putting up political stop-gags when we ask,” she said.

“Terrible,” Noel said, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands.

Chisato considered briefly if she wanted to continue the interview. The next subject was something she really wanted to know about, something she'd prodded Noel about for years. But given his current mood, she would feel bad to put that pressure on him. Setting her tablet on her belt again, she said, “Well seems like you've got yourself occupied and I need to write up the article on the birds of paradise. Thanks for bringing me up; I’ll be seeing you.”

His ears immediately pricked up towards her. “That's all?”

“For now,” she said.

“Chisato,” he said uneasily.

“Unless you want to talk?” she offered. “I'll even turn my recorder off.”

“Yeah, thanks,” he said, looking down. After a moment, he said, “The Ten Wise Men ruined my life. I lost everything, and,” he sighed, scratching his head. “You Nedians confound me. The people at the university have such respect for me, and even you just now have confidence in what I’m doing. All this after I told you all that I helped them, and I did... but only because of the threat they presented and they immediately betrayed me. To feel their presence again reminds of those times, the nightmare... I can't leave the preserve right now. Not because I’m protecting it or anything, but... because it's protecting me. Do you know how much presence someone like you or me has compared to the presence of a tree like this? Just a speck. Listening and connecting to the spirit of a tree often means losing your identity to it. I can cope with it all being here, but then when the animals have trouble and I have to come back to myself, there might be a time when I can't.”

“Is it possible to lose yourself entirely to the tree?” Chisato asked. But while he'd been talking, she'd been listening and thinking. Noel wasn't a Nedian; he was an outsider who shouldn't be here at all and what he'd just said was far more than Chiasto had gotten out of him over these twelve years they'd known each other. The moment he'd mentioned betrayal, something clicked in her mind that she wondered how she'd missed before.

“Yes,” Noel said quietly. “To where you can't come back. Sometimes I’m not sure how I manage to come back, although I do worry about the government putting down the animals here if they got out of control in all this.”

But given the current conditions, plus the fact that Noel was crying now, this didn't seem like a good time to bring it up. Chiasato moved closer and talked to him for a little while. Despite what he'd said, she didn't feel comfortable leaving him here alone. She gently convinced him to come back to Giveaway University with her so that he wasn't.


	26. Hoffman Ruins

-Hoffman Island, Precis

Hoffman island was surrounded by sheer cliffs and spires of rock. When asked, the captain explained that those along with sharp rocks hidden underwater made the island a natural fortress. It only had two was to get into the interior (well, three if you could somehow fly like a bird, which Precis thought was entirely possible). One was this hidden beach that took good navigation and a separate landing boat to reach. The other was only accessible to small ships carrying at most five people. But despite the good defensiveness from external attacks, apparently living in the valley of the mountainous island was so rough that no town, no matter how tiny or large, was able to last.

When they got off the landing boat, they were greeted by the remains of many groups before them. Poles from what once had been docks remained sticking out of the water, some with a few boards attached. An old lighthouse of patchwork structure stood on a cluster of rocks out in the tide, barely kept in operation to help boats get to this beach. Rubble on the ground amid lots of grass showed where streets had once been, with footprints of various buildings remaining.

One stone house was on the beach, the sailor on the landing ship saying that it was for the lighthouse keeper. Apparently one would have to be mad to work there, even with the high payments from Lacour and Eluria. And if the keeper wasn't mad, they'd probably end up so. Precis wondered how the lighthouse worked and if it could be improved through machinery. Then again, she was only visiting this place in order to get to bigger and better machines elsewhere.

“Best of luck to you, Master Leon,” the sailor said, staying behind with one of the soldiers to keep the landing craft safe.

“I don't need luck,” Leon said. Maybe rude, but kind of cool at the same time that a kid younger than her could have such confidence. Precis had a good deal of confidence in her skills too, but she'd encountered enough problems and unexpected failures that she knew caution was good too when needed.

They headed away from the beach and down the old streets, heading towards the biggest and most intact structure in sight, possibly on the whole island. It was a huge stone step pyramid, surrounded by many stone slabs arranged in some pattern that must have meant something to someone. Precis wasn't sure what, but then again, they were just a bunch of big rocks and not all that interesting. Maybe there weren't any machines here other than the lighthouse. That wouldn't be interesting.

Fortunately, the lack of machinery didn't stand for long. At the top of many stone steps, they entered a room that ended too soon. The wall had fine lines running through its metal structure, with two circles that looked like big buttons. “Looks like a dead end,” Rena said.

“Oo, but what about the buttons?” Precis asked eagerly. “Buttons always connect to machinery! Well, except clothing buttons, and those don't count.”

“It's not machinery,” Leon said, annoyed as he walked over to the right button. “At least, I don't think so. And it might look like a dead end, but it's definitely not. Odd that it's closed, though. I guess the last group through here wanted to make extra sure monsters didn't get in.” He pushed on the button in front of him; there was a click, but nothing happened. “Hmm...”

“I'll get the other one!” Precis said cheerily, running over before anyone else could claim it and slamming both of her palms onto it. It clicked too. Unfortunately, it had no effect. “Aw man. Is there any way to tear the wall apart to see what's going wrong?”

“Actually, it would be more prudent to try pushing both buttons at once first,” Leon said. “This place does need to be secure and we wouldn't want to compromise it. Ready on the count of three?”

“Okay!” Precis said, and waited for Leon to count to three before pushing the button again.

This time, there was an effect. The clicks were followed by a series of clanks, then the grinding of gears. Parts of the wall pulled back, then all slid into the wall, floor, or ceiling of the big frame. After a few seconds, it looked like a completely whole hallway leading to a stone staircase. Only the fine lines suggested that it could be a wall again.

“Really stellar puzzle-solving there,” Opera said sarcastically.

Precis didn't really hear her. Instead, she ran into the frame area to look at it. “Wow, that is totally machine-based, Leon! Didja see how smoothly it all went, coming apart and going back into a new shape like a jigsaw puzzle? That's awesome engineering there! But wow, how did ancient people know about machines when hardly anybody does today?”

“It's clockwork, which I believe is similar to but not entirely like the machinery that you and your father work with,” Leon said, heading through the frame's hall. “Didn't you hear the gears?”

“Clockwork is totally machinery too!” Precis insisted. “It's transferring energy and movement from one part to another using physical interactions of the gears' teeth. Clockwork just doesn't rely on electrical or water-vein power.”

Leon pricked his ears up. “What's water-vein power?”

“Jzfseamodt,” Claude said.

“Claude, mind your translator spells,” Opera teased him, giving him a nudge that was either playful or rebuking.

“Oh, sorry,” he said, clear once again. “Right, what is water-vein?”

“It's water-vein power,” Precis said as they walked down the stairs. “At least that's what I call it after seeing it at work. See, if you put water in a tube, then stop up both ends of the tube with sliding corks, while keeping as much air out as you can, with that structure, when you push on one cork, the other cork moves! And it gets better. See, if you use one cork bigger than the other, then the smaller cork gets pushed a lot when you push the big cork a little. Some of my machinery in my punching hand works on something like water-vein, but they have tiny tubes because that's where I first saw it in use. I have some of the calculations written down in my reference notebook on how it works.”

“It makes sense, and would have a lot of practical applications,” Leon said, thinking about it now.

“You both lost me at clockwork,” Ashton said, causing much amusement in the others (except Dias who was nodding).

“Uh-huh, that's why more people should learn about science!” Precis said. It was actually easy and reasonable once you got past how intimidating it could seem.

Leon cast a light spell as they got to the bottom of the stairs. Reflectors on the walls threw the light around, helping illuminate this hallway. While there were a few small rooms to the sides, he led them to a wall extrusion opposite the stairs. “Well whether the main door is clockwork or not, I’d like to see what you think of this room. It lets us get to the underground mine tunnels.”

She brightened. “Ooo, a power lift? I totally have one of those in my house!” When Leon pressed a button on the wall, the pointed extrusion split in half and slid aside, showing a plain small room with a stone-like finish. “Although this one is a lot more dull than mine. They're convenient, but you can't slide down a power lift like you can with a staircase bannister.”

Twitching his ears, Leon said, “Right... you can't. You have strange priorities.”

“No I don't,” she said. “I mean, you have to sneak around to do that anyhow in case some hoity-toity person gets mad about it, but it's fun!”

There were seven of them and the lift room wasn't that big, so they split into two groups to get down to the mines. Rena could cast a light spell too, so neither group was left in the dark. While it was plainer, Precis did have to admit that this lift was smoother than the one in her home. She got herself into Leon's group so she could talk to him about how lifts had counterweights which actually made their operations easy to understand.

Once they were all down in the mines, Leon summoned a book to check a map of Hoffman Ruins. “This place has been used to mine more than just energy stone, so the tunnels follow where the veins of valuable minerals were more than straightforward paths,” he said.

“Does everyone have the protective gear equipped?” Claude asked, looking around the group. They had, but it was good to check. That was how a responsible and admirable leader was, Precis thought. But as admirable as it was, she wondered briefly if she had much of a chance to win his heart. After all, he seemed to think a lot about Rena and her opinion.

Still, they hadn't said anything about being officially boyfriend and girlfriend, so maybe Precis still had a chance to sneak in between them. Leon decided on the path to take and led them through the rough tunnels.

* * *

 

-Leon

“The monsters down here are really dangerous,” Ashton said, at the end of one fight with Salamauraders. The huge lizards could breathe a toxic vapor that would put poison into a person's lungs, as well as turn their flesh stiff and unfeeling. Normally, that would be a huge problem and why any thoughtful expedition here would bring lots of curative spring waters and healing poultices.

Strangely, it wasn't much of an issue on this trip. Sure, they were getting affected by the roving lizards. But Rena somehow knew curative magic, most helpfully a spell that would quickly neutralize many toxins. Leon tried to ask her about it, but unfortunately she wasn't well-trained as a mage. Her magic, as excellent as it was, was all performed on intuitive feelings rather than rational understandings of the elements and their harmonies. Not ideal, but even he couldn't argue with the results.

“That's natural selection at work for you,” Leon said to Ashton's statement. “The monsters here have always fought each other over territory and claims to the energy stone deposits. This means that they grow exceptionally powerful when compared to similar specimens from other areas.”

“And probably why towns keep failing around here,” Opera noted.

“Or even just mining operations,” Ashton said. “There's evidence of them all over, but we haven't run into another person yet.”

That was true. Crates, mining carts, iron tracks, bridges over streams, and even some active explosives were all still lingering around, waiting to be used. On some walls, mosaics of mostly religious figures had been drawn out by bored workers. But no actual miners were around. Or should be around, since there weren't any records of current mining being done here.

“A lot of the operations end in tragedy here,” Leon said. “That's because people stay on too long. We're just getting what we need and going, so there should be no trouble for us.”

Compared to the last time Leon had been here, there weren't quite as many monsters. A bunch of those Salmauraders and some haunted suits of armor with huge shields, but still not many in total. And this group of adventurers were getting through them faster than the Lacourian knights, which was a nice advantage. Sure, he was the only one capable of refining the mineral here, but this should go by quickly.

They even reached the actual deposit before they had to break for the day. Deep in the mines, a large cavern always seemed to hold a cluster of raw energy stone. There was a great deal of heraldry power in the room; if Leon closed his eyes and let his mind wander, he could just about hear it. But that was a dangerous and foolish thing to do. For some reason, the luminescent green crystals had a maddening presence. Where other places of power might have a gentle whisper, this room would hold many conflicting whispers to confuse and overwhelm an unprepared listener. Although, his parents never said it felt like whispers to them, just a swelling of heraldic power that could warp one's thoughts to become obsessed with the mineral.

“So this is your energy stone, huh?” Opera asked. “Doesn't look like much.”

“It contains great heraldic energy,” Leon said as he went over to the mineral cluster. Claude followed him over. “And it will be mixed with some impurities, so yes, it is unimpressive in this state. But that's because you all have protection and won't be affected by its...” A bright flash of light came from behind him, along with an unearthly chime. Leon stopped immediately, worried. What was that?

“Rena?” Ashton asked. When Leon and Claude turned back to them, they saw that Rena's pendant was emitting strange pulses of light, even pulling away from her chest.

“I didn't do anything,” she said, puzzled and worried herself. She caught the pendant, but it kept pulsing. “Huh, that's the strongest reaction yet.”

“Is it reacting to the energy stone?” Claude asked. “Because you said it was made of refined energy stone.”

“Refined energy stone shouldn't react like that to the raw mineral,” Leon said. At least, he'd never seen or read about it doing so. And what was she doing with a refined energy stone crystal as a pendant? It seemed like a complete waste.

Their conversation was disrupted by a howling from a group of monsters, including one that dropped right behind Leon and slammed him in the head. His reference book for Hoffman Ruins fell out of his hands and sprawled out on the ground, much like he was. Feeling panicked, Leon scrambled for his book and pulled it close. The pages were a little dirty, but hadn't torn. Meanwhile, Claude was fighting off a large purple gorilla, the one that had attacked him.

Oh... them. Leon started to collect his wits again as the other adventurers in the group set about to attacking the three other gorillas that had come out of hiding. The gorillas were uncommon animals, although more had been seen lately as they were easily turned aggressive. But they were primarily physical fighters only, so this should be a cinch for these people. In fact, Claude almost had his dispatched already. Leon looked around for one that could be trouble to aim a spell at. That was when he spotted a fifth gorilla, keeping to itself and currently out of sight. A heraldic pyramid shield appeared around it... wait a moment. Those gorillas should be incapable of that kind of shield.

There was a snap of heraldic energy from the fifth gorilla, leading to a web of lightning appearing above all of them. Before Leon could even recognize it, the Thunderstorm spell struck everyone in the room, gorilla and human alike. It was very painful... no wait, he should have better magic defenses than anyone in the room! Why did it still hurt him this badly? How did the gorilla even cast a spell? It shouldn’t be capable. This didn't make sense! Leon shuddered, trying very hard to clamp down on a burst of fear. No, he was supposed to be the professional scientist here. He couldn't go losing his nerves.

“Leon,” Claude said, hurrying to his side while a curative spell from Rena hit all of their allies. The blond man leaned over and took his shoulder. “What is it?”

“They shouldn't be capable of that, or casting any spells,” Leon said, clutching his book to his chest. “No way, how..?”

“Calm down,” Claude said in a quiet but firm voice. “We can wander about that after when they're taken out of...” he looked around to see how the others were doing.

“Yeah, um,” Leon said. That was the correct procedure, although not the correct words. Looking around the room, Dias had killed one and was now helping Precis take down another. Ashton had used his dueling moves to get by the fifth gorilla and keep it from casting again. Rena was trying to keep away from the gorillas and see who needed her help, with her pendant still pulsing. However, that left Opera caught between two, between the one Ashton had left off fighting and the one she'd been handling. Still, the blond woman was holding her ground, in part to keep their attention on her rather than on Rena. Leon quickly cast a Black Saber in order to help Opera until Dias and Precis could go assist her.

And then a strange bang disrupted the battle. A streak of brightly glowing material flew downward to strike one of the gorillas harassing Opera. The attack completely melted half of its body, even the bones, to a disgusting meaty glop. Wandering who that was (and not wanting to look at that result for very long), Leon looked up on top of the energy stone cluster, where it had come from. There was a man standing up there, with messy blond hair and a dirty brown long coat (although how dirty it was was hard to tell from here due to the color).

Looking at the man up there, Leon felt a sudden chill. Something wasn't quite right. He had an heraldic presence that Leon had never seen before, but the presence felt familiar all the same. The presence didn't match the man's body either, as if some other entity had control of him. Another entity, cruel and full of hate... an entity that felt like it had come straight out of a nightmare.

Leon froze up on the spot, his mind full of irrational fear. Someone in the group called out to the man and he jumped down from his perch. Inexplicably, afterimages of a sickly green followed after him. He didn't know who the man was, but he knew the entity in control of him somehow. That entity would kill any one of them with a flick of the wrist once they'd served their purpose. For a moment, he wondered if he'd been killed already. Was someone protecting him?

No... the one who protected him was gone.

There was a movement close to Leon, which nearly caused him to scream. He recognized it as being someone he knew, but for some reason the person's identity wasn't clear. But, this person was strong; this person could protect him. He grabbed hold of the person's waist tightly, not caring how it looked but just wanting that entity to leave them alone.

* * *

 

-Opera

There was a few tense moments in the battle, when another mad gorilla came out of hiding and hit them all with a huge lightning spell. Ashton saw the need to get over to it quickly and engage it in battle. Probably a good idea, so as to keep it from casting the spell again at least. However, that left Opera handling two gorillas at once, on either side of her.

She was tempted to bolt, but then saw Rena trying to run out of the way to cast her healing magic. The girl was in danger from these two, if they decided to pursue her. As Opera felt like she could handle the gorillas better (especially when Rena got around to casting), she fired some alpha-rated plasma bursts at the gorilla in front of her, then whirled around and smacked the one behind her with her rifle to keep it from getting interested in Rena. It worked, at the cost of having the first gorilla punch her in the back.

While it winded her, a black blade struck the gorilla now in front of her and killed it. That would be Leon, she recognized. Good for him. And Dias and Precis were starting to head her way, which was even better. Opera pulled her rifle up to her chest defensively and turned to face the other, backing up while she did so. She still needed a moment to recover from that last attack.

Then the gorilla was half-disintegrated by what looked like a beta-rated plasma burst. But, there were no legal weapons that she could think of that would fire such a potent plasma bullet. Such things were restricted to the military and primarily used against armored foes or reinforced walls, not an insane wild animal. It certainly stopped the threat, but in order to use her alpha-shots without breaking the UP3, she had to disguise them as a specialty fighting move.

The source of the blast came from on top of the crystal cluster, from a man with a familiar silhouette. The energy stone extend its green glow to his legs and parts of his upper body, but that face, with three eyes... “Ern?” Opera called out, setting her weapon in her back holster.

He jumped down from the crystals and once he was on ground level, it was clearly the man she'd been looking for. Ernest didn't seem well, though. He didn't mind getting dirty on his expeditions, but this seemed worse than usual. On his face, a few dark vein lines could be seen, a sign of being close to exhaustion in a Tetregenes. Not only that, but his upper eye was unusually still and he didn't have any of the protective equipment Leon had mentioned in his lecture the other day. “So it is you, Opera,” he said with a discordant smile. “It's wonderful to see your shining grace again.”

What? The greeting perplexed her, as he'd never really flirted with her before. Or with anyone. “Err, yeah,” she said.

“Why are you using forbidden heraldry devices like that?” Claude asked, uncertain. He was closer to Ernest and the crystal cluster than the rest of them were. Strangely enough, Leon was clinging to Claude in fear, the back of his coat occasionally moving. Well she'd not seen Leon having a tail before, but he looked so much like a Fellpool that it wasn't surprising.

But that anomaly was quickly forgotten in her concern for Ernest. She thought she'd be overjoyed to see him again. But her gut told her that this wasn't right. “Yeah, you know how the elders feel about that,” she said. “You shouldn't have even brought it here.”

“It's just a trifle, nothing to worry about,” Ernest said, keeping the demolition gun in hand. But even he wasn't that nonchalant about flaunting the galactic law. “Besides, you were in trouble. How could I not come to your rescue? I'm happy to see that you've crossed such an incredible distance to this... barbaric land to find me. Please, come here.” He held his free hand out to her.

In the corner of her vision, Opera could see Rena smiling, probably thinking it was a sweet gesture. But it wasn't. She grabbed her rifle again and aimed it at him. “What the hell did you do with Ernest?!” she shouted.

“Excuse me?” he asked, trying to appear clueless and innocent. His third eye moved then, sluggish but trying to find her.

She glared at him, but was reluctant to pull the trigger. What if it was Ernest, but someone else was controlling him? She wouldn't forgive herself of shooting him. But, she had to be stern here. “You're not Ernest! He'd be more careful with a device like that, and he would absolutely never call anyone barbaric. Let him go!”

That changed the being's attitude. “Or what, you'll shoot him?” His right hand with the demolition gun shook while he spoke, and continued shaking as he snapped it up. “Fine, so I'm not Ernest. But is he the one you see before you or not? Maybe you can tell.” He stopped speaking for a moment, as if he was trying to say something else. “I will shoot someone if you come any closer. Get out of here, all of you. Now.”

“I'm going to get him from you,” Opera said, but she still couldn't shoot. She knew that she would brave any danger to come after Ernest. But, to risk hurting him in the process? Or give up when she definitely knew he was in trouble? What could she do?

For once, her mind was a total blank.

* * *

 

-Leon

“What the hell did you do with Ernest?!”

Opera's accusation snapped Leon out of his panicked state. He looked around and found that the strange man was facing off against Opera. And, Leon was holding tightly onto Claude. For a second, he felt his face get warm with embarrassment. He hardly knew this person; you didn't just hug someone out of nowhere like this. However, Claude didn't seem to mind. He even had a hand on Leon's back, trying to reassure him.

“What..?” Leon whispered, looking back at the strange man. He spoke with two voices, one male and one female. It was the female entity that had terrified him, but now that he looked at her again, she didn't seem quite as familiar.

“I'm not sure,” Claude whispered back. Seeming to have an idea, Claude crouched down and looked at Leon. “You're the expert on energy stone around here. Is Ernest possessed by it, and what can we do about him?”

A question that he could answer. Leon latched onto it and opened up his book. “He's gotten addicted to its presence, but the possession is from another being altogether. It might be possible to separate them, although it's hard to say how easily the spirit can be destroyed or driven away.”

“We've got to try something,” Claude said.

Leon nodded, then turned his ears towards the possessed man... named Ernest, apparently. He now was threatening the others with his powerful but strangely small device; his poor hold on it suggested that Ernest was trying to fight against the possession. Good, it helped Leon sense where magic ran between the two. If he adapted his Word of Death spell to target the possession line instead of the life force, which took altering the runes in his head but that was easily done... he cast the spell to cause a ghostly skull to appear behind Ernest and snap the possession line cleanly.

With that link broken, his struggle turned into convulsions, keeping him from standing. Opera dropped her weapon and ran to him, while Ernest managed to eject the parasitic entity from his body. A succubus with thick green hair and small bat wings flew out of his back, gradually turning from smoke into flesh. “Ugh, who cut out my control?! I almost had him all to myself.” Then she looked in his direction and narrowed her eyes. “You, little boy...” she snapped her fingers and sent a bolt of lightning at him.

Claude immediately stepped in front of Leon and caught the bolt in a parry. Briefly, Leon sensed it split in two before both halves struck Claude. The force of it nearly knocked him over, but through sheer willpower, Claude remained on his feet and guarding Leon. Meanwhile, Ashton appeared in triplicate around the succubus and struck her with Dead Triangle, making her wail. It at least kept her still while Dias sprinted past Opera and Ernest. Precis went up to the pair and stood by them, waiting to see if they'd need help.

“You can't parry a spell,” Leon said, feeling his heart pounding. That was a chose shave. “Not without the right weapon.”

“Had to try,” Claude said in a strained voice.

Wanting to help, Leon opted to cast Delay on the succubus so that she didn't get away from Ashton and Dias. It was only after he cast it that he realized this was all wrong. It'd be far better for Opera and Precis to be fighting the succubus directly, since they were women and the succubus wouldn't try to possess them. However, it still worked out. The two young men struck the succubus so hard that she opted to escape into the air rather than try to overtake them. “Ugh, I don't mind rough play, but you're being completely too serious,” she said. Then she turned into an orb of pink light and shot off into the earth where they couldn't pursue her.

The light of Rena's healing soon came over Claude. “Are you all right over there?” she said, coming towards them. But she stopped by Opera. The older woman was holding Ernest, who wasn't moving now.

“Wait, don't heal him quite yet,” Leon said, coming to stand by Claude. “We need to get him out of this cavern and away from the energy stone. Then use Dispel before any other curing spell, and a spring water if he'll drink it.”

“Will the rest of you take care of that?” Claude asked. “I'll stay here with Leon while we get the mineral.”

“Okay, we'll do that,” Rena said.

“Would one of you boys help me carry him?” Opera asked, getting Dias to agree to it.

But, were there other spirits, gorillas, and monsters around? Leon glanced around the room, uncertain. It all sounded so easy in his head; just come here, get the mineral and start its purification process, then leave. Maybe the others who had come with him before made it seem easier than it was.

“I think we're clear for now,” Claude said.

“Y-yeah, then I should get to work,” Leon said, going over to the clusters. He sent his book away into magical storage and pulled out his refinement kit. It was like a large black suitcase with heavy duty locks. Putting his hand on the case to undo the enchanted lock, he took the canister for the first refinement stage as well as a couple of larger tools. Most of what he needed was inside the canister already, to save space.

“Were you not expecting anything like that to happen?” Claude asked.

“Um, no,” Leon said.

“You don't have much defense against things you don't know about, huh,” he said, starting to pace around behind him, keeping watch. “Or seeing others suffer.”

He turned his ears down. “What's so bad about not liking seeing others in pain?”

“I'm not saying it is,” Claude said. “It's just, you were freaking out badly there. Are you okay?”

Leon paused before opening the canister. “Um, well, I guess... I don't like surprises. I plan out a lot of things and try to consider all possibilities within the bounds of science. But then things happen that I don't anticipate, and, well, since I didn't anticipate them my plans are worthless. It's not that I’m a coward or anything, I...”

In his pause, Claude said, “It's fine, no one can be brave all the time.”

Normally he'd be annoyed by someone else telling him what to do when he hadn't asked. But it wasn't like that this time. Claude was trying to help him, but doing so in a way that wasn't being condescending or telling him that he was just young. Well, now he had to focus on is work. And thanks to Claude being there, he didn't feel worried now. “Ah, all right. Claude... thank you.”

“You're welcome, Leon,” Claude said.

Harvesting the energy stone was mostly complicated by its heraldic presence. With the right tools, the crystals weren't hard to cut off of the cluster. Leon took off pieces as big as an adult's fist, weighing them and using detection spells to see what percentage of impurities were in the mineral. He had to gather a weight that was thrice what was required for the Lacour Hope, to account for impurities and the refinement process. Actually, they could get away with just twice the required weight given the average purity of the Hoffman crystals, but getting the extra amount accounted for potential mistakes and lessened the chance that they'd need to make a return trip. Any extra material could be set aside for other projects.

Once he had the right weight, he placed them in the first canister. It had the thickest wall and was the largest of the group, since it would handle the raw mineral. Then he screwed on the top half tightly, making sure that the sealing spells activated. The very top of the canister could then be twisted off, through which he carefully filled the canister with a mix of chemical solutions often used by alchemists. This was another step that required a trained scientist or alchemist for, as the solutions had to be in a certain ratio and handled with intelligent care. Once the canister was full and he double checked for the solution's activity, he screwed the top back on and made sure it too sealed tight. Then the canister went in the central slot and activated the clockwork mechanism that made sure it had the proper agitation applied. With extra pieces put back in and the suitcase shut tight, the container would make sure that any outer agitation or spells didn't affect the process.

He left the room with Claude and found that the others had managed to wake Ernest back up. The three-eyed man didn't look too well, but at least he was himself again. Not only that, but the others also looked tired, still battered from that last battle and all the others they had fought coming down here. “We're done here,” Claude said. “How is he?”

“I did all I could, but right now, I think he just needs a good meal and a long sleep,” Rena said. “But it's an awful long ways out of here.”

Leon brought his book on the ruins back out and used magic to flip through it while talking. “There's a cavern that miners used for living quarters nearby; we stayed there last time we came here. Let's see, it's...” looking at the map, he looked over to the northeastern tunnel, “in a side tunnel just down that way. Shouldn't take long to reach as long as the monsters don't bother us.”

“I hope it's not too far,” Opera said, coming over to them. “Hey Leon, Rena said that she thinks you undid the possession.”

Leon shrugged. “Not entirely, but I did cut off the connection between him and that succubus. He cast it out on his own, which is pretty remarkable.”

“Looks like you still made it possible, though,” she said, and then picked him up and gave him a tight hug. “Thank you, Leon! We couldn't have gotten him back without you.”

Caught by surprise, Leon's face turned pink with embarrassment. “Ah, er, I was just doing what was reasonable! Put me down.” Behind them, Ernest laughed. Leon twisted his ears back and thankfully Opera set him down. “Let's get to the rest area.”

“Lead the way,” Opera said cheerily, going back over to Ernest to make sure that he was well enough to walk over there with them.


	27. The Minus Edge

-4D, chatroom

Jeb: You know, I didn't think possession by a succubus was enough to get kicked out of a character automatically.

Ashe: What? It's a nasty demon; I certainly wouldn't like sticking around one.

Nancy: It was probably the amount of feedback you got, which was really unusual.

Jeb: Well since Penny is in class right now... there are some people who are into that kind of thing. Although I wouldn't want to experience it myself.

Nancy: Especially since we have Penny living with us.

Jeb: Right.

CJ: I'd agree with her that it was the feedback issue. You probably would still be recovering if it hadn't kicked you so fast.

Jeb: I also wouldn't have want to find out what would've happened if it hadn't kicked me. But hey, I can get back into Ernest again!

Ashe: And you're healthy again.

CJ: Oh, speaking of regaining characters, I have some great news for you all! I'm posting about it on the board, but I got my restrictions lifted! So I can play Celine again.

Jeb: Hooray, you beat the medical system!

Nancy: That's wonderful, CJ!

Ashe: Great! It's about time that unfair ban got off you.

CJ: Thanks, and yeah, it's wonderful! Although, I haven't checked back into Celine other than to make sure I still have her claimed. There's a secret...

Ashe: Oo, what kind of secret?

CJ: Well I can't really tell you guys yet, sorry. But I'm working with an employee of the Sphere Company on a special mission with a new character. Thing is, I have to be working with the new character a lot and I can't juggle Celine, Opera, and the new girl all at once.

CJ: So Nancy, would you mind adopting Opera from me?

Ashe: Wow, that sounds incredible. But great that they trust you like that.

Nancy: I thought you've run five characters at a time once.

CJ: I did, but it was tough maintaining them all at once. And I don't think I could run three now. Hah, maybe it is because I'm older now. Or because this mission is taking up quite a lot of time. I barely got the time to run Opera through the Hoffman Ruins, only for an hour around that battle with Ernest.

Nancy: As long as you're sure about this, then yeah, I’d love to play with Opera. My other character besides Nineh is just about ready to be retired and Nineh and Bowman are still on healing duty at Lacour Castle, with all the attacks from Eluria.

CJ: Thanks, I know I can trust her to your care.

Jeb; So what are you doing with your mystery new character?

CJ: I can't say! Well, maybe.. it's linked to what the investigation group is doing. Just from an unexpected angle.

CJ: Oh yeah, and Leon's player is that Enlo guy who's been hanging around and giving technical explanations on the board. He's been helping us in other ways, so I added him as a supporting player to the group's list.

Ashe: That's nice, but I can barely follow some of his posts. Is he the employee you're talking about? Because he seems that smart.

CJ: Close enough. He is helping on the secret mission too.

* * *

 

-Hoffman Ruins, Dias

Most of their group was resting now, after the battle with the spell-casting gorillas and the succubus. But Dias made himself keep awake, to be on guard in making sure this room was safe. Since Ernest was likely to sleep a long while in recovering, he would keep on guard until another one of their fighters was awake and alert enough to take over from him.

Fortunately, this room was in a good defensive position against the monsters. There was only one entrance to it, a narrow winding tunnel. While the turns made it hard to see far even with the newly lit torches, it would be hard for anything to sneak down this way; nothing here should be able to take him by surprise. Past the entrance, there was a long row of bunk beds against the rock wall, with nearby shelves for personal items. They had to shake down the sheets and thin mattresses to make sure there wasn't dirt on them, but they were still suitable for use. In other areas, there was kitchen equipment and a large scale map of the mines.

There was a group of crates and boxes closer to where Dias was. Sometimes he paced and other times he sat on the sturdiest crate. Among all the boxes, there was a dusty guitar case, a little scratched up but seemingly intact. It interested him, but it was more important to make sure that nothing was going to disrupt the others from sleeping. Still, nothing came down the tunnel and the rest of the room was safe. After a few hours of this, Dias took the case and sat on the crate to open it up.

There was a guitar inside. It was missing a string and another one looked ready to snap, but otherwise the wood was in good shape. Also in the case was some extra string, a couple of picks, as well as other supplies to keep it intact. He had to oil the tuning screws to replace all of the strings, as well as clean up the wood finish. But then when he went about tuning it, the guitar had a good sound. Someone had taken excellent care of it once and if that was continued, it would stay a nice instrument for many years to come.

It wasn't really important, he reflected a few times. Music seemed like an indulgence. It didn't serve a necessary purpose and keeping up on its maintenance would be an extra cost (even more so if there was a mishap in a battle and the guitar got damaged). However, he recalled how just a few songs had seemed to pull their group together like nothing else. It had always been that way, hadn't it? When music was played in the church and everyone started to sing, it felt like the village was one being no matter how different everyone in Arlia was. Then there were those days when his family and Rena's would get together to share a meal, often in times when food had to be conserved so it would last. He would be working on his guitar lessons with Rena's father and eventually he'd be trying to get Rena and Cecile to try too. The two girls would agree to sing, but were more interested in playing games than learning music.

To his surprise, it didn’t hurt all that much to be recalling those days, even though most of the people from that scene had passed away. It was nice to think of, a time when he felt at ease in a group and he thought more of how to have fun even when it meant teasing the two girls. In those days, Dias hadn't worried about what dangers were out there and his main reason for learning the sword was to imitate and impress his father. What would he be like now if he hadn't lost them? Would he even be out here, in one of the most dangerous places on Expel making sure this one place was safe from monsters? Would he have stood a chance in the tournament without the things that drove him now?

“Those are worthless questions,” he told himself quietly, certain there was no one around to hear him. That path was long lost to him. Still, maybe he had some choice left. He'd proven his worth as a swordsman at the tournament. Maybe he didn't need to devote his life to the sword anymore and could find some more peaceful pursuit. And music... well it could be a rough life as there was no easy way to earn a respectful living off music alone. He might still be able to find a way.

Not immediately, though. There was still this Sorcery Globe business to deal with, now that he wanted to see it through to the end. That would go a great deal towards making the whole world safer and more peaceful. It would be a legacy his family could be proud of him for.

* * *

 

-Leon

“Good morning, Leon,” Rena said cheerfully as he came over to the cluster of tables that made up the dining area. “If it is morning; hard to tell down here. We've got some breakfast over here if you want.”

“Good morning,” Leon replied, waving. “Thanks, I'll get it in a little bit.” First, he had to deal with the stone purification. It seemed that only Dias and Ernest were asleep now; Ashton was by the entrance tunnel, while the others at one of the tables talking with each other. So he went to a work table a good distance from the others to do his work.

He stopped the tumbler on the first canister and gave it a minute to settle down. Meanwhile, he put on a face mask, gloves, and his other work gear, as well as opened up a second canister. He then unscrewed the top portion of the first canister and used a pair of mesh tongs to pull out the minerals. The energy stone was easy to identify from its milky green color and luminescence. However, there would still be some impurities in the crystals and the mental deterioration effect was only cut in half. He set the energy stone in the second canister while setting other minerals aside. Once he had the large crystals out, he used a third canister to filter any remaining particles out of the chemical mix. Use of a spell allowed him to levitate any fine particles of energy stone out of the discard pile, then set them in the second canister. When he was sure he had it all, he used a different set of chemicals in the second canister, sealed it up, and set it in the tumbler position.

With that done, he paused to look at the discarded pile. Much of it was the sand he'd used to knock the impure minerals out of the crystals. However, a silver gleam in the pile got his attention. Leon pulled it out and discovered a piece of mithirl, about the size of a playing marble. It was remarkable that such a piece was found whole within the energy stone cluster. Because of that, he tried another test on the discard sand pile but only found flecks of mithril. There was some use for mithril dust in jewelry making and alchemy, but not as much as even the small chunk he had. What should he use it for? He could sell it for a good amount of fol, but then again, funding for his projects came from the castle treasury so he didn't have to worry about that. Or perhaps craft a small item with it.

Or find a use for it in customizing an item. Maybe even Claude's sword, in exchange for his help yesterday? It would be a generous thing, maybe not that advantageous to Leon. Still, he found himself curious about it. He'd read about customizing weapons and even used its techniques in adapting one of the castle's big cannons in order to become the Lacour Hope once they had all the parts. Besides, Claude was a reasonable and good person. Maybe doing something like that would make him a friend? His mother had been bugging him to make a friend, so this could be good.

But they had to figure out if it would even work with his sword in the first place. Leon went over and got what they had for breakfast. It was something one of them referred to as camping food: some dried potatoes, dried vegetables, dried meat, and hard cheese hydrated in water and baked while they slept to form some kind of unappealing looking goop. However, it smelled just fine and tasted decent, for being unprofessionally prepared. It was supposed to be good for energy, at least.

By the time Leon had finished eating, Dias had just waken back up but Ernest was still asleep. Rena and Opera thought he'd be okay. And Claude had gone over to take up the guard position by the entrance of the room. “Mind if I come over here?” Leon asked after going to the entrance.

“No, not a problem,” Claude said, smiling. “Hope you don't mind the delay in getting back.”

Leon got up on one of the crates. “Well, I would've suggested spending the night anyhow, so that I had time to get in the second refining step. Although if it gets to where I can do the third refining, that could be a problem.” He shrugged and swung his legs over the crate's side. “Besides, he seems like he's been down here for a while, so might as well get him away from danger.”

Claude nodded. He seemed to be watching the tunnel mostly, but also listening. “It'd be heartless to leave someone behind like that. I'm not sure how long he's been here, but Opera's been looking for him for most of a year.”

Being here and not being troubled by monsters, Leon noticed something odd. “You speak a bit odd,” he said. “Like you're not exactly saying what you're saying, and sometimes you phrase things differently.”

“Um, yes, I know,” he said, seeming embarrassed. He glanced over at Leon. “I could tell you if you keep it to yourself. They know, but I wouldn't want too many to know.”

Interested, Leon nodded. “Sure, I will.”

Claude went back to watching the tunnel. “I'm not from Cross. Or Lacour, or Eluria. Because of that, I don't speak or understand your language. But I've gotten an enchantment that lets me communicate with you. Mine's not working that great at the moment, so it could be translating things off the mark. I also can't read anything in your land, though I do well with my own language.”

“Then where are you from?” Leon said, trying to think over shipping maps. “You must be from somewhere sailors don't like to go.”

“That's it, from beyond that,” he said.

“Wow, so you're a long ways from home.” Leon wondered about that. He didn't mind trips like this, when he was busy and focused on work. But in moments when he did let himself think of other things, he would feel homesick for a short time. What would it be like to be from a land so far away that most ships didn't dare go that far? “How'd you get all the way over here then?”

“Warp magic accident,” he said. “Opera and Ernest came here on their own will, though. I might be able to get back home with their help.” But at some thought, Claude's shoulders sank and he leaned back on the crate Leon was sitting on. “At first, that's all I really wanted. But now I'm not so sure. This business with the Sorcery Globe is important to everyone, maybe even us from far away. And if I went home, I’d have a really hard time coming back here and would miss everyone I’ve met.”

“Really?” Leon asked, leaning forward.

Claude looked over at him. “Yeah, really. Even you. It'd be nice to see what happened if you loosened up and let yourself be a kid.”

“I'm fine as I am,” Leon said, kicking the crate. Although it didn't bug him as much as it would from someone else. “I'm doing important things, which will be worthwhile in the end. I'm gonna make it so that I have a bigger name than my father, so even your land will hear of it.”

For some reason, he chuckled at that before looking back to the tunnel. “Oh really? What's your father done?”

Leon tilted his ears down. “He's done a lot of important research in heraldry, but he's best known for inventing a flushing toiler.”

He shrugged. “Hey, it's a good thing to have around. More sanitary than the alternatives.”

“I guess, but I want to be remembered for something even greater and not quite so weird,” he said. “Both my parents are great scientists, so I have to work really hard to get past them.”

“I know how that feels,” Claude said, nodding. “Maybe when you get to work on your own apart from them, you might find what you want to do for yourself more than just getting past them. I just about know.”

“Maybe in a few years,” Leon said. He was still twelve, so his parents didn't want him far from them for too long. They'd even tried to have one of them come here too, but both of them were needed at the laboratory during the mission. “Hey, I was thinking earlier; have you ever considered customizing your sword?”

“Not particularly,” he said. “I've got two of them, one being a basic longsword that's decent enough. It serves its purpose. And this new one I’ve been using here, it was the one Dias was using the the tournament. He gave it to me saying that he was going to keep relying on his father's sword. It's a lot better and works for me fine.”

“But you don't sound like either is your sword like he feels about his,” he said. “Customizing usually makes the item feel more properly yours, at least that's what many books say.”

“That might be helpful,” he said, still seeming uncertain.

“I could teach you how if you don't know,” Leon said, wanting to encourage him. “I can even identify and examine items to figure out optimal customizations.”

“Are you two keeping watch or gossiping?” Dias asked, coming up quietly.

“Both,” Claude admitted.

“I wouldn't call it gossiping,” Leon said, flicking his ears in annoyance. “We're discussing customization.”

“There hasn't been much to keep watch for,” Claude added. “There hasn't been a monster even peeking around this tunnel since I've been up. We're fine.”

“Still shouldn't keep your guard down, not with others relying on you,” Dias said. He stuck around, maybe to listen in, maybe to watch the tunnel too.

“I'm not,” Claude said, taking out his sword. “I don't have the long sword with me, but this is Sharp Edge.”

Despite what Dias had said about keeping alert, he did watch as Leon took the sword and set it in his lap. “Well I can't tell much about swords from their looks, but through spells, I can.” He used Identify to determine the magical and physical properties of this sword as well as possible customization paths.

This sword was made of high quality steel with equally high quality craftsmanship. Basically, it had been in expert care in all of its existence, whether in making or handling. It had not existed long enough to fully react to that, but if it kept being used by excellent swordsmen, then it would have a mild magical backlash against less talented wielders. All in all, it had the potential to become something of legend and customization would only help it along that path. There were quite a few possibilities, such as a star ruby or a rainbow diamond.

But something in his mind insisted that it knew the absolute best customization path. The intuition seemed good when he balanced the numbers rationally. “It's already an excellent weapon, but you could make it into something worthy of legendary status with two mithrils.”

“Legendary?” Claude asked, uncertain but curious now.

“You'd have to be treating it well also,” Dias said. “My father used to say that swords will slowly take on the characteristics of its wielder with enough time and care.”

“That's what science says too,” Leon said. “At least, the heraldic potential that resides in everything will be influenced by who it's used by and how.”

“I didn't want to stand out like that,” Claude said, crossing his arms over his chest. “But then... these Elurian demons sound strong. If we're going to be dealing with them, it would help to have the best equipment we could get.”

Leon grinned. “Well I'm gonna do something about them that should cut them way down. But it would help to do that to clean up the stragglers.”

Dias snorted. “Don't you sound confident?”

“But I will,” Leon insisted.

“Let's wait and see before making judgments,” Claude said, holding his hand up to cut off a potential argument. Then he took the sword back. “So two mithril, then? That could be hard to come across.”

“It'd be a two stage customization,” Leon said. Then he took the piece of mithirl he had in his pocket. “I've got one here, from when I was refining the energy stone.”

Claude looked surprised. “Really? I, well, I thought it was rare.”

Leon shrugged and held it out. “It's not as rare as orichalcum, but still difficult to find when you're looking for it. Go ahead and use it. You helped me out a lot yesterday, so I don't mind.”

“Thanks,” he said, accepting it. “Now how do I do this?”

Hopping off the crate so that Claude could use its surface, Leon talked him through it. Customization could also be done in at a blacksmith's workshop, with a method that he was less familiar with. But using pure heraldry to assimilate the properties of the mineral with the object was simple enough. To him, and Claude seemed to grasp the concepts when Leon explained the mechanics behind it. On the other hand, Dias didn't seem to understand the heraldic science and soon gave up trying to follow them in favor of taking over watch of the tunnel.

The piece of mithirl soon dissolved into a silver glow being rapidly absorbed into the sword. The Sharp Edge was briefly unseen, its physical form being adapted through heraldry. Once the runes that had been drawn on the crate with Leon's charcoal pencil had vanished, the sword had its new form. The handle looked similar, now with a dangling small mithril charm of a symbol of star magic. The blade was what had changed the most. Much thinner than before, it had a shimmer similar to polished mithril. It still had one very sharp edge and one blunt edge. Although the blade was smaller, it was also denser so it had a similar weight and stronger force.

Leon cast Identify on it again, getting exiting results. “Amazing, it has an incredible refraction factor. The sword's form is now called the Minus Edge. With this sword, you could parry spells as long as you get the timing right. But you'll need to be careful of getting a magical backlash with any attack now. That problem should be addressed when you get another mithril customized to it. For now, you might want to think of getting a pair of leather gloves to handle this sword in combat.”

“Really?” Claude said, sounding worried. “I guess if it's what must be done. Maybe I could borrow some from Ashton.” He picked up the sword and looked at the blade. Noticing something, he blinked, then turned and held it to face the spell orb keeping the room lit. “Hey, you're not kidding about that refraction. It seems to be splitting light so I'm seeing double around its blade.”

Getting back up on the crate, Leon said, “I want to see it.” It was real. When aiming the blade at the light orb, Leon saw two instead of one. Angling right would make doubles appear of the others still chatting around the table. “I’ve seen that effect with some crystals, but that's still incredible. I wonder what makes it do that.”

“That would be something incredible to find out,” Claude said.

Perhaps. But how did one go about studying light and refractions?

* * *

 

-Ernest

That crystalline material was poison to the mind, even to an alien of this world like himself. Unfortunately, he only found out about it from the mind of the demon that had possessed him. Ernest could recall how his thoughts got derailed around it, not letting him focus on anything but staying near it and making sure no one else got hold of it. Even the seductive torture of the demon in his mind, which should have been mentally scarring, was easily ignored if the energy stone was around. It sucked out all of his willpower and made him not care about any pain...

He felt really weak now, his nerves tingling as if he'd recently undergone a heavy healing process. His thoughts were slow to come together... what was he doing? Where was he? And, did he really care about it? Something about him felt empty and devoid of purpose. He should... he should go back to that mineral cluster. That would make him feel stronger, that would give him purpose. But, he shouldn't. That stuff was poison and he knew it... and some part of him didn't care and would happily kill himself as long as he had possession of those crystals.

On opening his eyes, he found a familiar person sitting on the edge of the bunk bed he was lying on. Her long blond hair, three green eyes... also that stubbornness that would drag him out of a perfectly fine archaeological dig and put him in a stuffy suit to go out on a date to things he normally found as boring as watching paint dry... but he would go along anyhow because she made those things tolerable. She said something now, but he didn't quite grasp it as his eyes closed again.

She'd been near the crystals. He shouldn't let anyone else get near the crystals or they'd take them all away from him. But, it was Opera, she was fine. No she wasn't; the demon was jealous and wanted her to die. He couldn't let her do that. Normally, he dealt with demonic spirits in ancient ruins possessing someone else, not himself. But he could fight; he had to fight and make sure Opera didn't get hurt. Or get close to the energy stone crystals, he needed to get back to them... no he didn't, he should stay away.

Opera nudged him, bringing him back to the present. “Hey, come on. I know you're awake.”

“How do you define awake?” he asked, then opened his eyes again.

“Well you're drifting at the edge of consciousness at least and we'd like you to be awake,” Opera said, passing him a glass bottle. “Here, drink some mineral water. Our scientist says it should help break the addiction's hold.”

Ignoring thoughts to ignore the water and get to the crystals instead, Ernest sat up and took the water. His head felt light with hunger, but he drank first. Definitely mineral water; he could taste the hardness of it, although it wasn't unpleasant. “May I borrow some willpower off you? Stuff's still messing with my mind.”

She gave him a mischievous smile. “You either kick this addiction or you'll be stuck here in these caves for the rest of your life, never to see another forgotten ruin again.”

Ernest cringed. “Ouch, way to break a guy's heart.” When she laughed at him, he smiled. “Thanks, well...” Something the succubus had done to him flashed through his mind, causing him to shudder. “Ah, well it may be a while before I get into anything new. It's dreadful, but man, it's going to take a while to clear my head.”

“Well I'll stick with you, no matter how long,” she said, giving him a kiss on the nose. “You can be sure of that. Want some food? Got camping breakfast still left for you.”

“Yes, I'd take anything you've got,” he said.

“Even Nutritin?” she teased him, referring to a bland and slimy gelatin that had been crafted to be powerful in nutrition, but no one could make that stuff taste good. No one.

“Yeah, although I hope that's not all you have,” he said, laughing with her.

“It's better than that because this place isn't advanced enough for it,” she said, getting up to go get a plate for him. Ernest stayed sitting on the bed. Hopefully once he got some food, he'd feel more like getting around himself.

There were a group with them, people he vaguely remembered from the day before. When Opera came back with his breakfast, she brought along one fellow who turned out to be another alien to this world. With the others talking in another part of the room, they quietly explained the situation. Claude had been warped here through an unknown technology from Milocina (Ernest didn't recall the planet, so maybe there was something interesting to see there) while Opera had come to find him only to suffer a spaceship failure due to a high energy astral body that was strangely close to Expel.

“My ship should still be functional,” Ernest said. “I'm not sure how long I’ve been in this mine, but I checked on it before I came here. It's on the northern part of the Lacour continent, in a mountainous valley.”

“I think that's where the monster army from Eluria went through when they attacked Lacour,” Claude said. “Hopefully it's still in good shape.”

“So you taking off with us?” Ernest asked him.

“I probably should,” Claude said reluctantly. “But I’m not sure about it. I wasn't sure how long I’d be stuck here, so I started helping out the locals with a strange object called the Sorcery Globe. It's been turning a lot of animals and people demonic in ways this planet isn't familiar with. Not only that, but there's evidence of a civilization more advanced then them being responsible for it. Primarily, I saw someone in a suit that seemed capable of being in space, also with a personal jet pack that kept him in the air and a potentially advanced teleporting capacity. That person announced a symbological disaster that demolished a large port town thoroughly.”

“But this planet is still slow on long distance travel, so we've been jumping through all kinds of hoops to actually get to the continent with the meteor or artifact, whatever it turns out to be,” Opera said. “We're not sure if these people are capable of fighting back.”

Claude nodded. “Right, so I'd like to stick around and investigate the Sorcery Globe before I leave. If it turns out to really be beyond them, then we might have to see about getting them advanced help somehow.”

“That could be a hassle to get through the Federation's red tape to ask permission to do that,” Ernest said. “On the other hand, if these people are in danger, there's always the option of getting permission after we actually help them.”

“Yes, but you don't look to be in shape to be fighting these monsters,” Opera said.

“Well let's see how I do in getting out of this mine, and we'll go from there,” he said.

Claude glanced to make sure the others weren't in hearing still, then asked, “So what were you doing here?”

“Searching for evidence of civilizations from a space era six hundred trillion years ago,” Ernest said. “At least, that's where current estimates of that era are right now; dating history that far back isn't easy to prove. But with star charts and data I found in artifacts and sites relating to what might very well be the first space age of the entire universe, I managed to locate a long dead star that seems to be where the center of this era's civilization was. The system itself was all in ruins, but it was practically next door to this living system around the Actura star, so I came here to check things out first. This is the only inhabited planet of Actura's system.”

“Is that where the fancy door on this place comes from?” Opera asked. “I know some of the ruins from that era somehow manage to operate as long as the power system is still functional.”

Ernest shrugged. “Maybe; I haven't been able to actually study it because of the mental poisons from that energy stone material. I also found that there might be artifacts from that era in the Mountain Palace on the Cross continent, but those still need evidence testing at advanced facilities.” Then he grinned. “But I did find something that was, almost without a doubt, from that ancient space era. There's a place known as Cross Cave and if you manage to get deep into it past a hidden doorway, there's an intact table which is identical to one I’ve found before and have dated to that era. Only this one is in much better shape, and unless these people on Expel have managed to craft an alloy that our university can't quite imitate, it's definitely from those ancient times.”

“I think I've seen that table,” Claude said. “But, there was a civilization in space that long ago? Wouldn't this planet be younger than that?”

“It's around sixty-five million years old, if I recall right,” Ernest said. “How a table that old got in a cave here, that is something tough to explain. Of course, we may be way off on when that civilization was, since we have very few records of that era. Artifacts like those here are important towards figuring it out. Or maybe it's something else entirely; it's still under study.”

Once he was done eating, there really was no excuse to not go over and talk with the locals. This island wasn't easy to get on or off of, so Ernest had to go with them to catch the ship at least. The scientist, who turned out to be a misplaced Felpool that was younger than all the rest of them, said that he was fine with leaving the mines so the group headed out. As much as he wanted to help out, Ernest still felt weak, so he tried to keep out of the way when the others had to fight off monsters. Plus that was that lingering desire to not leave the crystals. But, he had to.

It was a long walk back, but Opera pulled him along and said that he'd feel better with a breath of fresh air and some sunshine. When they finally got out, she was right about the fresh air. It was good to finally breathe air other than the mines, without all sorts of dust. But as for the sunshine... well it was sunset by the time they emerged and one thing about the reddish sky stood out far more than the sun: the aurora. Even though it wasn't dark fully, the sky was filled from north to south with bands of shimmering color. Within the aurora were many tiny streaks of light, as if the planet were passing through a thick debris field filled with meteoroid pebbles

“Woweee, what's up with the sky?” Precis said, looking up and very nearly falling down the steps. Ashton caught her in time, thankfully.

“That does not look good,” Dias said.

It definitely wasn't. But Ernest was pretty sure that what he was worried about wasn't the same as the locals. Aurora was a possible sign of a disturbance in a planet's upper atmosphere. But even here on this northern island, seeing it fill the sky entirely was truly unusual.


	28. The Destruction of Eluria

-sailing back to Hilton, Ashton

The ship's crew were not happy about setting out from Hoffman. They used many signs from nature to figure out the safest and quickest ways to sail. For the past two days, though, there were so many strange and new signs that not even the oldest member of the crew, the navigator, was sure how to read them. There was the aurora lights which persisted through the day; they couldn't be seen as easily as night, but the blue sky often shimmered. There were the tides, which apparently were unusually and unexpectedly high. And there were the stars, when they could be seen through the aura. There was one huge splash of red-pink light across the nighttime sky, grown to be the size of the sun and making the night sky a dark red instead of black. Past that, the stars were in strange positions. The navigator said that this was how the stars should have been two weeks ago, and they were picking up speed in moving backwards. He even said the angle of the sun was not quite right, so he had to rely on the coastline to figure out where they were instead of the sky.

But this was a mission from the king and they were expected back as soon as possible. The ship's crew set out on the ocean waters, but were more careful about their path than usual. As for the passengers, they were asked to remain below decks, just in case. There might be sea monsters from Eluria, but the crew seemed more worried about the ocean suddenly getting more dangerous than the monsters.

Their group was now joined by Ernest; he'd been interested in hearing how Ashton ended up with the dragons since they hadn't been around last time they'd seen each other. And like before, he had an odd interest in things that seemed ordinary. Especially history, but he encouraged a scientific debate between Precis and Leon about the role of heraldry in machinery. Precis seemed more interested in the machinery part of it while Leon was far more into the heraldry, but all of it was more than Ashton could grasp. Still, it gave him time to gather his courage for something. It had been a long time coming.

When there was a halt in the conversation, he finally spoke up. “Hey guys? I've been meaning to talk to you all about something for a while now, about what I saw happen to Eluria when the Sorcery Globe fell. Some of you know some of it, but I, well...” he scratched his head.

_Come on, kid, spill it,_ Gyoro said, nipping the air right near Ashton's ear.

“You sure about that?” Opera said. “Seems like a nightmare, what little I heard of it.”

“It was,” he agreed. “But, if you mean to go there, you really should know what kind of danger you're getting into. I somehow got out of it, but I don't think it was lucky at all.

“It all started on the day I was knighted by the king. For the heraldic knights, the last trial before you can be accepted is spending a week in a particular dungeon on your own. It was a monster nest even back then, where it was possible for demons to appear and attack those who were nearby. I had a lot of tough fights that week, but even though I was given a device to call for help if I really couldn't handle it, I managed to make it through. So my father came into the dungeon to retrieve me for the knighting ceremony, outside of the dungeon rather than in the castle.”

…

“Ashton?” His father’s call came from the other room. It was time already? He’d been in this underground dungeon for long enough that he lost track of time. There weren’t many windows to let in sunlight, just damp dark caverns and rocky tunnels.

“I’m in here,” he called back, still working on pulling sticky webbing out of his black hair. Russell came in, seeing him there with five giant spiders, all dead. Their bodies were the size of a man’s torso and some people harvested their leg segments for use as barbed clubs. “I, uh, nearly got spun up,” he said. “This stuff’s a pain to get off.”

Russell laughed. “You have the worst luck, don’t you. At least the nearby farmers will be happy they won’t be going out into the fields. Let me help you.”

It took some time, but they got Ashton free of the remaining webbing. They left the dungeon and Russell then blindfolded Ashton, as a part of the knighting ceremony. While he hadn’t seen anyone else before letting his vision blocked, he heard the king’s voice. “Ashton Anchors, you have passed the endurance test in order to become a heraldic knight. There is one more test before you’re done, one that will commence now. Follow my orders and do not deviate. Understood?”

“Yes, your majesty,” Ashton said.

The test was one of obedience and trust; the king gave him directions on where to walk so that he could get through the wooded area outside of the dungeon blindfolded. Not hard as long as he followed directions, although Ashton worried about tripping on an obstacle he didn’t see. He could hear a few others walking with them, not just his father and the king. Most likely other heraldic knights acting as witnesses.

After a while, he wasn’t sure where they were other than somewhere outside the dungeon. The ground was rising rapidly and the trail they followed wasn’t entirely straight. This led to him having to rely on the king’s orders step by step at some points to make it up. After what seemed like twenty minutes of climbing a hill, the king said, “Stop.” Once he did, he added, “You’re on the edge of a cliff, but you have followed your orders well and have not slipped. Thus you have passed this test. Kneel.”

He did so and on swearing an oath to be loyal to Eluria and its king, he was knighted. His father took hold of his arm as he stood back up. “Sir Ashton Anchors, you have done well to receive this great honor and tradition,” Russell said proudly. Then he gripped the blindfold. “Now tell us what you see.”

There was a point to this action given at every knighting. The cliff above the dungeon had a magnificent view of Eluria Castle and the town around it; this was to show the new heraldic knight what was most important to protect. However, when Russell pulled Ashton’s blindfold off, his head got tilted up and he first saw the sky. Or rather, something in the sky.

“A shooting star,” he answered.

The other knights and the king were a bit confused on the answer, so they looked to the sky too. A bright sparkling spot was in the sky, moving slowly and growing in size. After a few seconds, it sped up and turned out to be a huge meteor, one that crashed right into the castle and immediately destroyed it. A huge wave of dust rushed across the green farmland, eventually passing right through the group on the cliff with a great deal of heat and fine debris.

The king called for the horses to be retrieved, but it was too late. Eluria Castle had been destroyed.

…

Ashton’s mother had been here. And all of his friends, and nearly everyone he knew save for his father, the king, and the knights who had been at his ceremony. They were looking for survivors, but there were hardly any bodies left. Everything was destroyed. At the center of it all was the strangest rock he'd ever seen. It was enormous, at least twenty feet high in a perfect sphere. With a glow like coals in a fire, it radiated immense heat so that when standing twenty feet from it, it felt like being near a smith's furnace.

He was about to give up on searching and go back to where they had left the horses, but then he saw someone standing on a tall portion of the ruined castle. Looking at him, Ashton had an impression of being in the presence of a king, but this wasn't any of the kings he knew of. It was in his refined poise, the way he looked critically over his surroundings, the gold circlet he wore over his long red hair, the regal white coat... but more than any of that, it was a presence of power and authority around him that was felt more than seen. He was sure he'd never seen this person before, because that presence was unmistakable.

Who was he and how did he survive? Ashton tried to climb up on some rubble to get nearer to him, but it wasn't sturdy footing and he ended up slipping. The regal man then glanced over at him. Picking himself up as if it wasn't a big deal, Ashton called, “Excuse me, sir? You should probably get away from here; the heat at least is dangerous.”

“You're concerned about me?” he asked as if it was the stupidest thing he'd heard all day.

“Yes,” Ashton said, although he wondered about that. “I'm with the heraldic knights; we're here to protect all here...” but everyone here was dead, destroyed so completely that there were no bodies. Even standing here, he couldn't quite come to grips with it. Why such destruction, so suddenly, on people who didn't deserve it?

“You'll not find anyone else here,” he said. “You had best leave and not return.”

He had half a mind to do just that. Still, it seem dishonorable to just leave a survivor without making sure they were capable of defending themselves. “Are you sure you'll be all right on your own around here?” he asked.

The man went back to surveying the land, crossing his arms over his chest. “Fools... curses be on you for being an annoyance. Leave.”

“Ah, all right, just be careful,” Ashton said, heading off to leave the destroyed castle. His body shuddered for a moment; that man was unnerving, definitely not someone he wanted to face off against in battle.

…

That evening, the king and the six heraldic knights who had been out of the castle when the meteor fell gathered at a bonfire in the countryside. Some of the local lords who owned the farmlands around Eluria had arrived or sent messengers, looking to find out what had happened. There were reports of crops being damaged in the dust cloud racing out from the scene, buildings collapsing from the impact, even a few fires springing up from embers flung far from the meteor. However, not even the king was sure what to do now. Remembering one person who had died would be a reminder of another person who died... there were too many to grieve.

Ashton heard a pained gasp from one of the messengers and looked over at her. At first, she seemed to be shaking from trying to comprehend the tragedy. Then spikes erupted out of her skin, all over her body. With a vicious roar, she then slashed the throat of a man near her and killed him instantly. Ashton grabbed his swords to fight her; yes she had just been a regular person, but now she was a monster. How it happened didn't matter when she was killing those near her.

He and the other knights eliminated her, but then those she killed began to rise as monsters as well.

...

It was like the whole country had gone insane. Formerly peaceful farm animals went berserk and attacked any who got near, even each other. Monsters who had once been confined solely to underground caverns appeared out in the open. People turned into demons, showing no sign of their former selves. Just earlier, Ashton and Russell had to calm down a village that had worked itself into a frenzy thinking that it needed to sacrifice one of its own to the meteor, now called the Sorcery Globe, in order to save the rest from madness for one month. Just one month and then they'd have to do it again, or so some of the people claimed. People were leaving the continent in droves, but who could blame them?

But the king and the few heraldic knights, they stayed. As the king had said, it was their duty to protect the people, even if it meant helping them leave and staying behind to make sure those who were still here were doing okay. Ashton stuck with his father while they went from village to village, seeing to it that the laws were being respected and helping where they could. In the morning and evenings when they weren't traveling, Russell drilled his son on the signature move of the Elurian heraldic knights, Sword Dance.

“This move requires more precision in movement and casting than any other move known by our knights,” he said. “But it also has the greatest effect, not bound by heraldic elements. Keep working at it until the precision is as natural as any other move you use.”

Perhaps it was keeping an ethic of hard work and dedication. Or perhaps it was because learning and teaching a difficult move like this made it easier to not have to think about the senseless tragedy surrounding them. They had heard so many stories of what had happened in the wake of the Sorcery Globe that they all seemed to blur together. Everyone seemed to have known someone who died in the castle on impact, be it family or friend. At least they had died with some kind of peace, oblivious to their impending fate. All others after were dying to fear, despair, violence, and illness.

Days came where the two of them ran into no one else. Villages would be abandoned or destroyed. It became hard to tell if the monsters they ran into were formerly humans, demons lured out by the chaos, or even created by the strange meteor. In the distance, they could see something rising out of the castle's ashes. It was a tower that was built abnormally fast... and without workers, at least it seemed that way when they happened to be close enough to use a spyglass. And the Sorcery Globe itself rose off the ground, floating off its new perch as it was being built. There was no reason to wonder why people thought there needed to be sacrifices; these events did seem best described by the rise of a new evil god. Maybe even that strange man Ashton had seen at the ruins.

Eventually, Ashton and Russell found their way back to the king of Eluria. He was surrounded by four graves, marked by a pair of crossed swords. That was the sign of a fallen heraldic knight. “You two are the last, then,” the king said, causing a red flame to appear around his left hand. “The remains of this land are to be eliminated, to raise one worthy of its new ruler.”

“Your majesty, snap out of it,” Russell said, even though he was shifting into a ready position for battle. “You don't have to listen to those words; think of our country's honor!”

What words? Ashton nearly asked, but then the king sent a wave of fire at them. “There is no changing this planet's fate; they have decided on it already.” And he turned into a huge bull monster, so they had to kill him as well.

…

Ashton was practicing on his own tonight. He had the Sword Dance mentally broken up into stages and could follow each stage. Now he just had to link them together and he could also use Sword Dance as a proper Elurian knight. But, he had killed the king. At least the demon who had been the king. Was he really worthy of the move now?

Russell was sitting on a stump nearby, not saying a word. Ashton figured that his father was caught in a moment of grief; both of them had been paralyzed by such moods often. But when he stopped his practice for a break, to get some water and something to eat, Russell looked over at him and said, “Keep working at it. I want to see you do it once.”

Once? That didn't seem right. “Dad? Why's that?”

“Don't ask,” he said, forcing the response out. “The words... we have to ignore the words and keep at our duty until we're sure others are safe.”

“What words?” he asked before he could think that he shouldn’t ask if his father asked for that. “I don't hear any, well...”

Russell looked at him, this time with an uncharacteristic spark of hate in his eyes. “You don't? You don't hear those voices... they're demons, I'm sure of it, ones that drove the king and others mad. They speak of things like stars and power that are beyond me. Some wish to rule over all Creation and turn it into a hell that worships them. Some wish to destroy all... absolutely everything, from the sky to the sea to every blade of grass on the land... they know the history of the next hundred years and have decided on the world's fate. We can't fight it; we can't fight them. It would be useless to try. We ought to just kill everyone we see to spare them the agony of living under such cruel gods...” He clenched a fist and closed his eyes, shaking.

“We shouldn't,” Ashton said, although he wondered how they would fight gods at all.

“You will die for such softness,” Russell shouted and attacked him as if he was the monster.

But no matter what he said, it seemed like the person here was no longer his father.

…

“I’m just glad to find other people who are sane,” one woman said, crying.

There weren't many of them, just over a dozen gathering where Port Tenue had once stood. Someone had repaired a ship left here. While there was some doubt to how seaworthy it was, it was a calm day and all the ship had to do was get them to Clik. “Is there anyone else around?” Ashton asked. He had walked around the port city yesterday and this morning, and, “I haven't seen any.”

“I think we're the last who want to leave, or can,” the one who repaired the ship said. “Hey, are you one of the heraldic knights?”

“Uh, no, I was just a squire,” Ashton said, feeling a bit sick at the lie. If he admitted to being a knight, then he should stay behind and make certain there were no more civilians... only, he was afraid that he'd start hearing those voices and end up turning demonic like all the others he had killed.

…

The ship didn't even make it to Clik. Some strange bald man had appeared over the water, smirking at them. A minute later, a dazzling spell dropped out of the sky and ripped the boat to shreds.

Ashton wasn't even sure how he survived that. He'd blacked out soon after the attack. When he woke up, his back and head hurt, his armored coat was drenched, and he was washed up on a beach clinging to part of the boat's wreckage. So that was it. He'd survived the shipwreck, he was the last of the Elurian knights... why? And what did he do now?

It would be several days before his mind could move on from that terrible loneliness to trying to survive on the Cross continent.

* * *

 

-4D, chatroom

( _Enlo pokes Ashe)_

Enlo: Hey!

Ashe: Oh, hi there. What is it?

Enlo: I was watching Leon when Ashton was talking about what he went through in Eluria. That's some harsh stuff.

Ashe: I still get nightmares about it sometimes. Some of the other guys who had the last six heraldic knights got memory wipes and dropped their characters before they got turned.

Enlo: Some people can't handle it, but too many more don't even try. But there was something about that story...

Enlo: The regal man he saw in the ruins of Eluria Castle, would it happen to be this guy?

Ashe: Yeah, that's him.

Enlo: Aw ****

Ashe: Who is that?

Enlo: Indelacio. You're lucky he didn't kill Ashton right then and there; he wouldn't have stood a chance in a fight with him.

Ashe: I don't remember hearing that name around Eluria before, but it seems like I should know it.

Enlo: Although I'm worried about how he mentioned curses around Ashton. Would you mind if I checked on his stats? I won't change anything, just look.

Ashe: Sure, go ahead.

Enlo: Thanks.

Ashe: I haven't noticed anything unexpected about Ashton since then.

Ashe: Well aside from the whole dragon possession bit, but that was his own fault.

Ashe: Been working on keeping his spirits up, since the group's going to be heading for Eluria soon. He's willing to go, but panic and fear can set in quickly.

Enlo: Do all you can to support him. Well, I did find a curse, if an unorthodox one

Ashe: What do you mean?

Enlo: Indelacio gave him protection against mental poisons, such as that emitting from the Sorcery Globe which made half the population of Eluria turn demonic.

Ashe: Then that's how he got away with not going crazy in that time?

Enlo: Right. It would also have protected against the raw energy stone poison, so Ashton and the two dragons would have actually been untouched by it if they hadn't had the protective gear.

Ashe: Then he meant for Ashton to go through all that mess with killing the king and his father just because he annoyed him briefly?

Enlo: It would be characteristic of him to do that.

Ashe: That's sick.

Enlo: I agree.

Enlo: Even so, I'm going to try to get that protection status on the other characters of the group. I'll have to do it from this side, but the investigation would stop cold otherwise.

Ashe: Won't you get in trouble for that? It'll help, but that's hacking.

Enlo: Let me put it this way: when it comes to Indelacio and his group, I have permission to get away with a lot in order to get them defeated and turned inactive. They'll utterly destroy Expel and far more than that if we don't.

Enlo: But at the same time, I can't just delete them from the database. The Eternal Sphere is an incredibly complex living thing, even if it is all programming at its core. Erasing even a single person will cause instabilities which will introduce unexpected glitches.

Ashe: I see. So are they gods and how are our characters supposed to deal with them?

Enlo: They're not gods, but they could easily be called god-like. You know about special bosses that are kept in isolated spaces so that only players and characters with sufficient prestige levels can battle them? Like Valkyrie Freya. They're on that level, but they're not isolated. As for how you'll deal with them, we're still working on that.

Ashe: I wasn't expecting to get in on tracking down rogue prestige bosses; I wouldn't think any of us are ready for that, except maybe Dano.

Enlo: Yeah, that's the best and worst thing about the Eternal Sphere: you really don't know what you're going to end up doing. I just recently learned that they don't plan events anymore outside of what happens in isolated space. Everything that comes up is the result of what all the players have done before. And maybe more than that too.

* * *

 

-Dias, on ship

When the sailors asked for some of them to come above deck to clear out some monsters that had shown up, Dias volunteered immediately. Anything to get back out under the sky again. Even if the sky was being strange, he was more comfortable out here than inside a ship's cabin or under the earth. Ashton and Claude went as well, so the sea monsters were dispatched rather quickly.

They hadn't been asked to return to inside the ship, so Dias stuck around outside, as did the other two. Ashton was leaning against the side of the ship, looking out over the ocean in a melancholy way. Meanwhile, Claude was off on a higher part of the ship. He'd been acting strange since the end of the fight, after some suspicious sounds came. Dias thought more monsters might appear, but instead Claude pulled a box out of his pocket and started having a hushed if rather angry conversation with it.

It made Dias wonder about him for a little while, but this clearly wasn't the time to be asking him what he was doing. Instead, Dias turned his mind to the story Ashton had told them earlier. He hadn't been too impressed with him when Rena had talked about him. After all, why would someone not mention that he was a knight to his traveling companions? And he had demonic dragons attached to his soul, so the things he said needed to be taken with some suspicion, in case it was them talking instead.

But knowing what really happened... Dias felt humbled by him instead. Dias had lost his own family to senseless violence, which drove him to becoming this efficient killer that he was getting to regret. On the other hand, Ashton had also lost his family and many friends to senseless tragedy, had even been forced to end some of their lives himself. But Dias could see now that he was still upholding the honor of a knight even if he was ashamed at his own failings. He was even going back to where his tragedy started when Dias felt uncomfortable in any forest that too closely resembling Shigeo. He couldn't compare to that.

Dias went over to the spot where Ashton was. Ururun noticed first and poked Ashton in the head a few times until he noticed. “Oh, sorry,” Ashton said, although what for he didn't specify. “I haven't noticed any others.”

“Unless they're stupid, they should keep away for a little while,” Dias said. “Ashton, how do you keep brave?”

“Huh?” Even his dragons didn't seem to get it.

“I mean in going back to Eluria,” he said.

Ashton nodded. “Oh, that. Well I am terrified. It's probably crawling with demons, plus I've gotten to be friends with all of you... and I'm bringing you to a place that makes people insane.” He stood up straight. “But, it has to be done. Maybe Eluria doesn't exist as it was, but it's still my duty to serve my homeland. Plus, nothing will be solved if we just ignore it. The demons are already trying to invade Lacour. Before we go, I think I'm going to pray to the gods for protection over all of us. We're going to need it.”

That simple? But, maybe that was how things should be. “I see,” Dias said. “We'll all be there to see what can be done to end this madness.”

“Thanks,” Ashton said, smiling sadly.

“No I won't!” they heard Claude shout. They looked up in time to see him hurl the box he'd been talking into far out to sea. He seemed steamed in anger.

“I wonder what that was about,” Ashton said. After a moment, Claude came down the ladder to where they were. “Hey, you all right?”

“Oh, uh, yeah,” Claude said, blushing. But he came over to them. “Sorry, I, uh... geez...”

“What happened?” Dias asked.

He sighed and leaned against the side of the ship. “My father wanted me to come back... as soon as possible, ignoring the Sorcery Globe even after I told him of the danger it presented. It was probably out of line for me to do that, but then it was out of line for him to contact me like this and to suggest... well, that's just not how things work and this is important. We'll figure out what it's doing, and then maybe we can use it to,” he put his hand on his head and grumbled.

“The Sorcery Globe is the biggest concern for Expel right now,” Dias said. “All these demons and disasters didn't happen until it came out of the sky, so we must do what's right.”

“Yeah, but it's not easy to convince my father of that,” Claude said.

“I hope he understands later on,” Ashton said. “But how did you talk to your father through a box?”

“I can't explain that, sorry,” he said. “I shouldn't even be here in the first place. But, that's what happened and now I'm going to do what I think would be the most good. I can't ignore the danger you... all of us are in.”

And Claude was even going to disobey his own father to do what he thought was right. Dias felt like he had a lot to learn to be as honorable as these two. Still, if they could live that way, then so could he.

* * *

 

-4D message board

Reply 824 (Ronnie*): *******, Claude. We gave him a chance to escape and he decided no, he's going to stay on the planet that might be completely demolished.

Reply 825 (Ashe): What happened there? Ashton wasn't listening in on it, so we don't know what happened aside from him chucking his communicator into the ocean.

Reply 826 (Ronnie*): Well the Calnus was in the area scouting out unregistered planetary systems for resources and civilizations. They picked up on Claude's distress signal; he must have left it running and then forgot since it took so long. Roinixis decided that, in spite of Expel's civilization level, that he was going to contact Claude immediately.

Normally Claude might bring up an objection but go along with his father's orders anyhow. Not this time, he was whispering but really getting after him for it. Roinixis told him that there was a strong chance of a planetary collision with the high energy body, basically although more insistent on getting him to a clear point where they could warp him off the surface. Claude brought up the Sorcery Globe and wondered if reaching and understanding it might make it possible to avert the collision since it was happening unnaturally. Roinixis wouldn't hear of it since that meant leaving him there and this time Claude wouldn't give up either. Guess they're more like each other than they realize.

Claude even brought up the fact that he's fighting with friends and doesn't want to abandon them, reminding Roinixis of his more adventurous days. So we're pretty desperate now to find some way to stop this too.

Reply 827 (Ashe): I imagine. Claude's upset about it too, but I think he's mostly convinced himself that he's doing the best he can in the situation he's in.

Reply 829 (Dano): Can the Pangalactic Federation do anything? It's been a while since I've had a character in it, so I haven't paid much attention to what they are capable of.

Reply 830 (Ronnie*): I suppose this conflict between them was a long time in coming, but it's good to know that he's troubled by it too.

As for the Earth Federation, I don't think so. They'd have to be able to correct the paths of two large astral bodies, one of which they can't even get near since it reads like a supernova frozen in time for the most part. But more telling than that is how this collision shouldn't be happening at all. The energy body has been recorded before, with an orbital period of 7000 years that takes it between the Actura system and a dead star system neighboring it. It shouldn't even have come so far into this star system. Not only that, but the Calnus has been there long enough to find Expel's normal orbit path, and it's currently moving backwards.

Let me go find the Calnus readings for more...

Reply 831 (Dano): That's been noticed on the planet, at least by those who read the stars.

Reply 832 (Ashe): Then it really is going backwards? And with the energy body outside of its normal path too, that seems like a move with some purpose.

Reply 835 (Ronnie*): I agree with all of you that it does seem to have intelligent purpose behind it. Especially since both objects have jumped close to each other at various points, sometimes quite large ones on the part of the energy body. The Calnus picked up readings indicating that its presence was about a century away from collision when it first left its normal orbital path. About a month or two ago (Expel approximate), the collision had been cut down drastically to five months time. After the last jump, well, it could be a month when their proximity makes Expel unlivable even before the collision. Could be less.

And remember how I said Claude would need to be in a clear spot to be picked up? There's currently a powerful bond between Expel and the energy body, either gravitational somehow or symbological, which is interfering with the Calnus' equipment. The ship can't get too close or there'll be malfunctions everywhere. Even the communications link was poor when, at that distance and direction, it should have been clear. Getting the two apart would require breaking the bond and when a top class scientific starship of the Earth Federation can't figure it out, then breaking it will have to be done blindly.

Reply 836 (Dano): Or with the Sorcery Globe, if that works. Hope it does.


	29. The Eternal Sphere

-Leon, Lacour City

Almost back home, Leon thought to himself. Now the only thing keeping them from being in Lacour was the closed doors of the outer city walls. There had been more monsters to get through than normal in the countryside. Stronger ones too, as even the Salmauraders from Hoffman Island were walking around Lacourian roads. At least he was with a strong group of adventurers that could fight them off. Maybe he should be more thoughtful to that kind of person in the future. He'd seen that it wasn't all fun and games; they worked and practiced hard to get the skills they needed to thrive on the road.

Even Ernest had joined in some of the fights despite not being at his full strength yet. Thankfully, he didn't use that really destructive device again, sticking with a more normal whip instead. But he wasn't with the group any longer. He and Opera had borrowed one of the smaller carts to head north into the large valley there. Apparently, Ernest had left some things of his there at an old campsite, and they wanted to look into the demons that were roaming that area. That had taken up some time as the group said goodbye to the pair. But Leon didn't bother them for it. He just wished he had friends who cared for him like that. Not that he'd say so; it wasn't really rational, but...

“Oh, Claude, your arms are bleeding again,” Rena said, hurrying over to his side.

“What...?” he asked, then looked down at his right arm. He was wearing leather gloves, but they'd been sliced apart at the wrist where he was bleeding. “Whoa, how did I not notice that?”

“Yeah, I wouldn't think you could keep fighting with that,” she said, healing it up.

“No, sometimes you just don't notice until you stop fighting,” Ashton said. “I, uh, had a fair number of similar injuries when I was new at duel-wielding.”

“Maybe you should stop using that sword until you can find anther piece of mithirl,” Leon suggested, feeling guilty in having been the one that let him change it to this more dangerous form.

“Well it's far better than my other sword and it could be a while until I could find that mineral,” Claude said.

After making sure he wasn't bleeding anywhere else, Rena opened up her bag. “Mithril... isn't it that silver-like mineral? Cause I had this silvery marble show up on account of Trickster earlier today.”

“I couldn't be sure,” Claude said.

Leon was going to check it out, but Precis was closer. “Oo, looks about right, but it's easy to mistake silver for mithril on looks alone. You can check its density with water, or you can see if it reacts to star-element magic.”

“Or you can just use identifying magic,” Leon said, which was usually how he figured out properties of minerals.

“I have one of those spells,” Rena said, glancing around. She picked a rock out of the way and cast an attack spell which sent a star up into the air to blast the rock with magic. The marble she had lifted out of her hand too, sending off small sparks of magic.

“That'd be mithril then,” Precis said. “So what, you gonna customize the sword with it?”

“You should so it stops cutting you,” Rena said, giving the marble to Claude.

“Yeah, that'd be a big help,” he said. “Could you help me with that again Leon?”

The iron gate on the doors finally clattered as it rose. The heavy wooden door behind it was pulled back with winches, but not all the way. “Once we get inside the city, sure,” Leon said. “It'd be safer.”

Inside the gate, they found that the streets were quiet. Soldiers were patrolling around, but no civilians were in sight. “Good to see you all back,” a guard at the gate said. “And thanks for taking out that attack wave; they've been coming hourly today.”

“Hourly?” Dias asked. “That's not normal.”

The other guard nodded. “Yes. Fortunately, we moved a great number of people out of the capitol here down to the mountains in the south. That area seems safer for now. Most everyone left here is in the castle. You should head on to report to the king, Master Leon.”

“I will,” Leon said, annoyed that the guard thought he needed to be reminded of such an obvious thing. But further in, at the plaza just beyond the gate, he said, “Well if there's not many people out here, might as well do the customization work here. You remember how it goes?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I'm just not sure of the heraldry symbols yet.”

“Ideally, you set the runes to match the individual customization,” Leon said, taking out his writing charcoal and setting up the base design. The Minus Edge had metal runes, from being a metal sword, but it also had an alignment with star runes from the first customization which should get stronger in this second. He wondered for a moment if he should try to figure out what would absolutely null the backlash that was getting Claude cut every time he used it. But on checking what was there, he felt almost certain again that it would not occur with the sword's next form, whether this succeeded or failed.

“I've heard that this kind of magic can be sensitive to the participants,” Rena said. “So maybe if you thought of what you're fighting for, then the sword will recognize that reason and work with you instead of against you.”

“What I'm fighting for,” Claude said, thoughtful.

“It would probably help,” Leon said, finishing up the runes. “Okay, same as before: place the sword on the crest and focus your energy with me.”

Since Claude knew what to expect this time, the process went smoother. Leon hoped that this did work. He'd heard Ashton's story and he was worried about all of them for what they were getting into. Since he was to be an operator of the Lacour Hope, he wouldn't be on Eluria with them. But maybe through helping better Claude's sword and using his own weapon, Leon could still help them avoid the demons' madness.

When the glow of the work subsided, it was still a longsword. But not a basic high quality one like it started as. The blade had an iridescent sheen in the sunlight; as did the two star charms dangling from the blue handle. Leon cast Identify on it to make sure it was how he thought. “This sword... is now known as the Eternal Sphere. As long as its owner has a good heart, the sword will bring many blessings. It does still have a magic backlash, but it's no longer directed at the user. Instead, it will release star elemental energy when the owner is attacked. So now it's really good.”

“Well it was really good when it was made, so it must be even better,” Claude said, taking the sword back. “Thanks Leon, and you too Rena.”

“It's no trouble,” Rena said. Leon just nodded; he was wondering why he felt like this needed really enthusiastic laughter. It was great, but that reaction would be seen as strange.

“Okay, so who decides what the swords are named when you cast Identify on them?” Precis asked. “Is there some god that makes up a huge list of all possible names, checks them whenever something is made, and goes, 'Yup, it's that one all right'?”

“I think it is the gods who bestow names, but I don't think there's just one who has only that responsibility,” Leon said.

“Aw, why not?” Precis said. “It'd be good job! Like, Listel, the list god! Or Listelle if she's a girl.”

“I think the priests would be the ones to know things like that,” Ashton said.

“Let's get back to the castle so I can report in,” Leon said, putting his charcoal away.

At the castle entryway, they briefly ran into Nicolus and another researcher; the two of them confirmed that the king was in the throne room currently with Florence and Murdoch. The group walked up the steps and asked to come in. Leon felt glad to be back to familiar faces and places. Next time he needed to leave to get some material, he'd agree to wait a day or two if needed so one of his parents could come too at least. That made travels more bearable. On seeing them, he hurried his next few steps into the throne room. “Momma, Poppa, look, I got it just fine.”

“Leon, act properly in front of the king,” his mother chided him.

Oh, drat. Leon blushed and went to his parents' side, mostly to hide out of embarrassment. Curse his childish slips of the tongue. He wished he was just a few years older, so he didn't do dumb things like this. Thankfully, his parents managed the meeting from there and soon asked to be excused to work on the project down in the castle lab.

And to think, he probably would have gotten a compliment on it if he'd just waited a little while longer...

* * *

 

-Lacour Castle, ???

There were many people in the castle these days, lots more sources but not as much valuable information. It made what he needed to do harder, but Nicolus didn't mind. It still was easy. After sending off some of the castle guards on busy work, he shut the door to the meeting room so he could be alone. Talking wouldn't be suspect in here.

How he was talking would be suspect, since he used a device far beyond this world's capacity. There was a lot of interference due to lack of satellites and communication towers, but he managed to get through. “Yes, I've got some information that I felt needed to be passed on immediately. I found the reason for the plan being pushed along differently than expected. There's a second key on this planet.”

“I thought you decided that they were incapable of refining the mineral to the purity and density needed for a key.”

Nicolus nodded reflexively. “That still holds. The key is in possession of a Nedian girl, with the group of adventurers that has been asking about going to the Elurian continent. I only had brief contact with her, but I felt its presence needed to be reported.”

“In that case, you had best come back soon. If you can find more information on the girl and the group she's with, do so, but prioritize getting back before they leave. Don't worry about the weapon now. Resonance with the second key has made it impossible for them to pull off any resistance in time, especially if she means to bring the key here.”

“Is this going to hinder our plans?”

“Possibly, we'll need to be more flexible with the next portions. But it brings about our goal much faster, for which I'm grateful. The others might grumble about it.” He didn't sound too worried.

But might as well reassure him. “You can be certain that I'm on your side. There is much I could learn, but I've realized that it will all be the same at the core no matter how people try to dress it up differently. The bounds of time will ensure that the same mistakes are made time and time again.”

“Thank you, Nicolus. Is there anything you would like to do?”

Feeling honored by the graciousness, he felt it couldn't hurt to indulge in a small whim. “Well, it's something I could accomplish here, though I'm sure it won't take long. The Nedian girl's presence is certainly a curiosity, but I've also caught something interesting with the child I've been helping. You remember, the one in charge of their weapon?”

“Yes, what about him?”

“I've been certain he's not native, so I don't know all that well if it's inherit to his kind, but he seems to have a hidden talent that could be interesting. Not game changing or anything, just interesting which I haven't seen before and possibly distracting to his work. It seems as though it won't come out fully until adolescence, but I think I can trigger it early. Just out of curiosity, to see what it is.”

“Go ahead. As I said, the weapon's no longer important, so he's not necessary any more. Report back to me what it is if it's actually interesting.”

He smiled. “Thank you. A few fewer unknowns and I'll be content.”

* * *

 

-4D, message board

ES Company Announcement: Our hearty congratulations go out to the player NPC for acquiring the extremely rare special weapon the Eternal Sphere with its character Claude Kenni on the Milky Way Galaxy server! Happy adventuring!

 

Discussion Topic: Player NPC WTF?!

Original Post (Trent): Really, WTF? I'm sure you all saw that announcement a little while ago about a new Eternal Sphere sword cropping up. But is that an error or is it really in the hands of an NPC? And if it is the latter, how the hell does an NPC get a unique weapon like that? It's not fair.

Reply 8 (Enlo): Hoo boy, here comes another sure to be repeat topic; need to brace myself for the next few days.

Claude Kenni is an NPC. It's really easy to prove: just search by character/server/equipment (Claude Kenni/Milky Way/Eternal Sphere) to get his profile, then attempt to send a friend request. It'll show 'friend request impossible due to NPC status'. Which also means that weapon will be impossible to buy in the forums. All in-game only, and I highly doubt that he will give it up any time soon. He has good reasons to keep it.

As for how he got it, he got it the same way anyone else does: customize a high quality sword with the right potential in the right manner and get really lucky. Just because he's an NPC doesn't mean he's incapable of a simple process and good fortune such as that.

Reply 10 (Lass): Oh wow, it's been a really long time since an Eternal Sphere has come around, hasn't it? Still, sooo weird that it was an NPC.

Reply 11 (Trent, reply to Enlo): I don't believe that; it has to be some hacker because there's no way some dumb AI NPC can make a weapon like that.

Reply 13 (Enlo, reply to Trent): The NPC AI is far from dumb. The Eternal Sphere NPCs can pass any bot screening program we have, no matter how sophisticated, just as long as you can get it to them. I'd go so far as to say that they're practically a natural intelligence just like us, with the only thing making them artificial in any way is that we created their universe.

Reply 14 (Dano): You again? Anyhow, he did make it himself; I was immersed at the time and my character was there when he did. Although my character did give him the base weapon and another player character helped him out, Claude put it through two customization as he wanted to.

And before anyone asks, I don't regret giving him the base weapon. The Eternal Sphere is a nice weapon, but Dias wouldn't use it nearly as well as Claude.

Reply 17 (Trent, reply to Enlo): it's still far more likely to be a hacker.

Reply 18 (MOD Blair, reply to Trent): Claude is not under the control of anyone and has no signs of hacking in his programming history. He had some player assistance, but that merely gave modifiers to increase the likelihood of success by making sure the process was completed properly. Thus, projections I've run just now show that Claude could have done the Eternal Sphere customization on his own, simply with a 50% higher chance of failure. We will be leaving the legendary weapon with him.

 

Enlo was in the middle of putting together a post reiterating that Claude wasn't under hacker control when Blair did so with far more grace and authority than he had. Because of that, he deleted what he had and considered making a sticky topic about the reasons Claude had gotten the weapon as an NPC. It wouldn't stop all the clutter repeat topics sure to pop up, but it might reduce them.

But then his screen turned red with an emergency 'Blocked attempted hacking to Leon' came up on the status ticker. “Oh crud, who is that?” Enlo grumbled, quickly shutting off the message board in order to pull up his programming array. “I know the last raid got a lot of the other experienced code crackers out. Maybe it's some novice. Feh, I'll give 'em a scare and see if that's a good wake-up call.”

When he searched for the source, he didn't find any incoming connections on the right levels. But even if they bailed immediately on getting blocked, he should find some trace of recent access. His house was on a remote part of 4D's network, rarely accessed. The last he could see was Blair and CJ. But his system alert wouldn't have gone red if it was a company employee and CJ didn't have the skills to trigger it (besides, she only came in through his line when accessing Chisato). He checked some more access points, but none had been touched today.

He checked on the hack attempt itself, but it was bewildering. The hacking seemed to be coming from within the Eternal Sphere itself. From a 4D resident who had immersed so deeply that they didn't come out? There were a few who chose to do that; they were considered lost forever, since the normal reincarnation techniques didn't function properly if the subject's mind was wiped from such transferal. It seemed the attempt had blocked anything from being changed at first look.

Then the hacking started again. And the source was, “Nicolus?” Enlo whispered, moving to block that one too. “You're an NPC too... although it's been hell trying to access any of your data. Tria, I need a half-immersion. Record everything of the situation.”

* * *

 

-Lacour Castle (moat dock), Leon/4-D half-immersion, Enlo

There was a dock on the castle moat; it connected to a store room below the kitchen where food, drinks, and cooking supplies were kept. On market days, the kitchen servants would take a boat from here to go buy supplies, then return in a way that avoided much of the foot traffic of the city. But it seemed to have been of little use recently, with the monster siege going on. It made it so that no one bothered Leon for coming out here to be near the water. At least it was quiet, and he could defend himself.

On returning, he spent much of the afternoon finishing up the refinement process and getting things ready so that the processing and manufacturing of the last parts would go quickly. His mother had wanted him to take a break earlier. He had, for dinner, but then went right back to work. It was important; the king even said to get this complete as soon as they could. For that, personal time could be sacrificed some.

But eventually the others wanted to stop for the night to sleep and Leon couldn't complete the work without them. It was irritating. At times like this, he considered inventing some kind of food or drink that would give a person boundless energy in order to complete all the tasks at hand. There was so much to do and being able to sleep less would help to keep up. Since he couldn't work right now and didn't feel like sleeping yet, he'd snuck out here to watch the water, the best way he knew to relax.

The ripples in the moat were few at the surface, giving it an excellent reflection of the castle bridge and the stars. Normally, the city lights were be too numerous for many stars to twinkle on the water's surface too. But with this siege, much of the city beyond the castle was dark. It didn't feel right to have it like this. For a little while, Leon really wanted to keep working so he could finish the Lacour Hope, and thus give the city the power it needed to go back to normal. Maybe more people would stop treating him like a kid after that, or stop giving him hollow praises because they didn't respect his position.

“Leon?” He looked back and saw that it was Nicolus coming out onto the dock. “May I talk with you for a little while?”

He nodded. “Sure. I'll be fine out here; it's quiet and we can get back inside if something happens.”

“I'm sure,” the old man said, coming over to sit by him on the end of the dock. “I know it's a bad time, but I have to step out of the current projects and leave the lab. I got a letter from my niece asking me to return to my hometown. With what's there, I can't really refuse, so I'll be leaving the city next time it's possible. Tomorrow, hopefully.”

“That's too bad,” Leon said. Nicolus was one of the better scientists in the lab. Very rational and logical, open to criticism and questions. As he was thinking that, Leon's whiskers had a funny tickle run through them, so he wrinkled his nose. Then he had to rub his nose so that it just looked itchy; some people got the wrong idea when he did that.

“I'm not afraid of leaving the city, because I'm confident that our work will solve the monster problem,” Nicolus said. He rubbed his chin, then looked over at him. “There's also been something else I've been wondering about. I know what they've been saying about how you came to look like you do. Still, I find it suspicious. Apparently, your mother's been unable to have any other child. And this is rather drastic for a heraldry afflicted alteration. You're like a whole different species that's only close to humans.”

“If I was a different species, there'd be more people out there like me,” Leon said. “Since there's not, the alteration is the best possible explanation. And I don't think Momma wants to have any more kids after what happened with me.”

“Then they don't want another aberration like you,” Nicolus said, then clicked his tongue. “Sorry, spoke without thinking. It may have let you succeed like you have.”

“Yeah,” Leon said, although thinking about it that way made him feel uneasy. Maybe they wouldn't say it to him, but did they see him as a freak they didn't want to repeat?

“One thing that made me wonder about it was some reports of a woman's ghost around the Linga Sanctuary area,” Nicolus said. “They say she has blue hair in a braid, a tail, pointed ears, and feline whiskers but otherwise seems human. Some say that she seems to be looking for her child.”

“It's a ghost story,” Leon said. Ghosts were unpleasant creatures. They remained when they shouldn't and generally caused trouble for those who were alive. At that point, he sneezed from a stronger tickle on his whiskers. What was this, some kind of pollen affecting him?

“Bless you,” Nicolus said.

Then Enlo appeared in the Eternity Sphere. However, he was invisible to the residents like this, in a state that security programs like Executioners were normally in if not actively working. He wasn't affected by the world's physics either, floating off the water near them. “You're only saying that to fit in,” he muttered, shifting his view so that he saw programming as well.

“Sorry, my nose is itchy tonight,” Leon said.

“Maybe some dust from working with the energy stones is still affecting you,” Nicolus said. “And I know that's a ghost story, but there are reports from reliable sources. Those who wouldn't fabricate a sighting based off nerves and gossip: I mean some of the soldiers who have been out fighting the monsters as well as some scholars from Linga. It's not a good time to be looking for her, I admit, but if you were able to divine by water, you might still find something about her.” He rubbed his chin, now deep in thought.

“I feel calmer by water, but I haven't learned anything about divination,” Leon said. “Don't really have an interest in it since none of it is scientific. They won't even submit to studies.”

He shrugged. “There's a few schools of magic that aren't suitable for scientific study.”

Enlo didn't like what he was seeing. Nicolus was holding a reasonable conversation with Leon, but was able to make his hacking attempts without seeming suspiciously quiet. Had they picked up the hacking ability recently, or way back when they had been made? If they had picked it up earlier, then it was lucky that they hadn't been able to escape until now. Maybe it was just Nicolus, since it would fit in with his skill set and explain that Incredibly Inspired condition. But no, it couldn't be just him. It had be at least be him and Indelacio as the latter had the best chance to pick it up without it being noticed when they were last active.

“Right, but divination is so easy to fake,” Leon said. “It would be nice if you could get advice on the future from the gods, but it's all too easy to just say something and tell others that they have to take you on faith. It's like proving the existence of gods and guardian angels. Since there's no way currently to detect them, it's all got to be accepted on faith which is most unscientific.”

“I believe in guardian angels,” Nicolus said. “I've felt their presence.”

“Are you sure about that?” Leon asked, looking up at him.

Nicolus nodded. “Very sure. But it's like seeing something out of the corner of your eye that disappears when you look directly at it. There's a moment where you can tell they're there, but then when you pay attention, they seem to no longer be there even if they still are. I caught a sense of one being very close to us just now, but now I can't find him.”

Did Nicolus mean that he sensed Enlo through the hacking locks? That would make sense if he could hack in the first place. In which case, Enlo didn't mind. But did he actually sense him otherwise? It was too bad that he couldn't peek into Nicolus' programming like he could Leon's.

Meanwhile, Leon was partly convinced, primarily because of how Nicolus had helped him previously. “If they're intangible enough that they can't be seen or normally sensed, I don't see the point of them being around. They probably couldn't protect people from actual danger.”

“You mean physical danger,” Nicolus said. “But there are other dangers that we can't see and have a hard time fighting against. The energy stone addiction, for one. Or possessions and danger from intangible demons. Although, this presence feels familiar. Not one I would put much faith in, though. The last two people I sensed him near both went insane, at least to those who couldn't see why they were doing what they did. One probably died, so he can't be good.”

He could tell that much? Enlo drifted back in shock; this was far more than he'd guessed the Eternal Sphere NPCs of being capable of, but Nicolus still showed no signs of being connected to the 4D world. And he was an NPC from a much older era! Had they been capable of independence even back them?

However, his shock at that was enough to distract him and lower his guard. Nicolus got into Leon's programming, changed it a little, then pulled back out to simply monitor him. This time, he didn't even cause a reaction in the boy from his interference. Growling, Enlo went to find what he did. There appeared to be no new programs installed, no new statuses, no stat changes... all he did was activate something that was already there, something that Enlo had planned to introduce in slowly rather than flip it all on at once like Nicolus had. If he wanted to keep Leon sane, then he had to help him adjust as rapidly as possible to this change.

It didn't appear suddenly, as Leon's mind and body had to catch up on what was done. “What are you trying to say?” Leon asked. “If it's something that you can barely tell is there, how would you know if it's the same thing as before?”

“That could take a rather long time to explain, and it's getting late,” Nicolus said, getting back on his feet. “You might want to consider coming in soon; don't need you falling asleep out here and falling in the water.”

“I wouldn't do something that silly,” Leon said, then looked back out at the water. Not quite yet; he'd head back inside when he was good and ready to.

After a couple of minutes, Enlo managed to give some luck bonuses and status resistance to Leon without him noticing. Around that time, Leon realized that he was feeling different for another reason. There was a prickly feeling in his mind, not strong but just potent enough to be noticeable. It increased to a sensation similar to when he cast magic. What was this? He tapped his shoes on the water's surface and heard the tiny splash it made.

Then there was a slow ripple, like hearing sand being poured into a flask. Only, he knew instinctively that he was hearing water, not sand. The water in the moat wasn't flowing fast today, but it was flowing all the same. And, Leon found that he could tell how exactly the currents fell. In some spots, the water rushed by, a quick moving stream in a sluggish pond. Deeper down, the streams were flowing around debris at the bottom: some branches, some rocks, even a few coins that people had pitched in 'for good luck'. But how was he telling this? He knew water flowed that way, but never to this detail in water he only saw the surface of.

He was hearing it, he realized. And once he was aware of that, the moat water seemed like it was singing, trying to relate stories to him. Rain falling over the castle, with the drops trickling down the walls into this moat. Water that had lain for a hundred years in a vast lake deep underneath the land, only to come out because some person drew it out with magic into a well dry from drought, and then falling out of a bucket to seep into the ground until it ran into this moat. Water that had turned into mist near Linga Sanctuary, passing by the ghost of a strange woman with feline features; she was crying, but the mist pushed on northward until it reached Lacour Castle, where it condensed on a light post and eventually made its way into this moat. And if he listened even closer, he might just hear the voice of the stars reflected on the moat in exotic voices that sounded like nothing he'd ever heard before.

Enlo moved closer to Leon and made to touch him. “Leon, stop listening or you'll be lost to it.”

And then, a foreign voice broke into the water's song, warning him to be careful. Leon jolted himself upright, looking up. Briefly, maybe not even a second, he thought he saw someone almost entirely transparent close to him, floating over the water. Then he couldn't be seen again. “A guardian angel?” he asked.

“Jerk pushed your extra sense into top gear and made it stick there,” Enlo said, noticing that he was now unheard and unseen now that Leon was trying to find him. “I would like to shut it off again, at least for another three years. But that would take time away from stopping them entirely, so we have to make due with fiddling with statuses to acclimate you safely.”

“Maybe I'm more tired than I think,” Leon said, rubbing his eyes. He got up and looked around. “Angels, huh? I hope they are good spirits.”

“We try to be,” Enlo said.


	30. The Lacour Hope

-Lacour castle laboratory, Leon

Take the time to get things right; get things done soon. The conflict of interests made Leon cross. On one hand, if he didn't construct these parts right, the cannon would fail while building energy and possibly blow up, killing those around it instead of protecting them. On the other hand, if he didn't get those parts done as soon as possible, the hordes of demons and monsters would overwhelm Lacour Castle. The knights and guards were getting weary, which meant that the return of Claude and the others was a relief to have fresh support. Yet the Elurian devils seemed content to continually raise more demons as if their lives were cheap.

The energy stone was to be inside the cannon's mechanisms, so looks weren't important. They could stop the refinement once the crystals lost their maddening influence and became safe. At this point, most of the crystals were pulverized into dust. This was blown into the tubing that made up the vacuum chamber, vent, and barrel; the crystals weren't an ideal substance to make pipes out of, so this was the quickest method. However, they had to be sure that the dust stuck to the tubing cleanly and thoroughly. Portions where the base metal would be exposed to the building energy would weaken and melt, causing a premature release.

Fortunately, a test with specific light spells and a dark room would cause the crystals to glow again, showing how much surface was covered. Leon also found that if he entered a meditative quiet, he could hear the energy stone hum. Like with the moat the other night, he could tell in that way where bare spots were and patches were needed. That was quite a help, as looking over the glowing crystals in a dark room could irritate his eyes after a while. He just couldn't explain why he could suddenly hear things that shouldn't make a sound.

Now there was a decision: finish coating the last few pieces of tubing, or have a break for lunch. Leon really wanted to get this done. Once this step was complete, it basically just needed to be installed in the base cannon and hooked together. Then again, he had been at this since early this morning, and now that he was told about food being in the lab, his stomach growled some. Mistakes might be made while he was hungry. After making sure the pipe he had was ready, he set it with the other completed pieces and went to the break room.

His parents were in there, but it was another of the adult scientists who first spoke to him. “Glad to see you join us, Master Leon,” he said, as if he wasn't really that glad. But then he said, “You really seem to be zipping along getting those pipes done precisely. Good for youthful senses being quick.”

“I worry about them getting done a little too quickly, but it is nice progress,” Murdoch said, sounding weary.

“He's not been making any mistakes, I've been double-checking,” another said.

“It's a simple process,” Leon said, irritated. He had a theory that adults liked to make things complicated: saying one thing while meaning another but claiming not to be lying. And they liked kids, but once the kids got too close to their intelligence or made them feel insufficient, they started to hate such kids instead, trying to get them to fit back into the mold. That would explain how most adults treated him. Thankfully, there were a few exceptions like Nicolus and Claude.

Unfortunately, the exceptions didn't always include his parents. Murdoch kept questioning him about the whole process of making the Lacour Hope, even now when it was very nearly done. And he was nitpicking to find anything to lecture Leon about. “You have to break up the surface into even spaces and examine each space to make sure the glow is level and unbroken,” he said.

“I know, that's what I'm doing,” Leon said. Then, in a hopeful attempt to get him to stop lecturing, he asked, “Hey, Poppa? If elements of heraldry made sounds when not being cast, what would they sound like?” Because one explanation for him hearing water and crystals was that he was actually hearing the magical elements of these elements instead. Somehow, he couldn't quite explain that yet.

“They wouldn't make sounds if they're not in use,” Murdoch said. “The elements are basic things, like the ground, the water, the sky, the plants, and so on. If they make sound, then something is being done with them or they're moving or vibrating.”

“But what if it was like you could hear the potential magic and power within them?” he rephrased it.

“That's not possible, although some people can train themselves to see heraldic power better than the average person.” He stated it like absolute fact, not willing to consider that it might be at all possible.

Leon tilted his ears down, but before he could reply, Florence came back into the room. Since Leon had come in late, most of the other lab workers were back at work by now. “How are we going to decide who should fire the weapon first?” she asked.

“I can handle it,” Leon said.

“Well other than the three of us, the other best capable who knows enough about it would have been Nicolus,” his father said. “But he's gone now.”

“Well you're better at vacuum magic than me,” she said to Murdoch, not looking at Leon at all. “And I'd really rather not operate the weapon if I don't have to.”

“I'll handle it then,” he said.

Leon bit his tongue trying not to lose his temper. Sheesh, he was the lead scientist around, even if they were his parents. And this was his invention! He'd come up with the method and means mostly on his own. The main things others had done were clean up his furiously written notes, answer some questions that he wasn't certain of, and helped with the crafting of it. He had done the design and much of the building. Was his father trying to steal his work, his moment of triumph?

“Good, because I'd rather Leon not be around it either,” Florence said. She seemed almost angry today for some reason. Then again, she could be unpredictable in her moods. “A weapon like that is too dangerous for a child to be around while its operational.”

Did she have to be difficult now? Leon was losing his patience since this was so unfair. “I know exactly how the thing works and how it might fail, Momma.”

She bowed her head. “It's unfortunate that you do. But with the enemy our country has, we don't have much choice but to accept what ideas come.”

“What, so it was only accepted out of desperation?” Leon asked harshly. Ugh, adults! Why couldn't his parents be some of the more reasonable ones?

“Well you are a smart child and we're proud of you,” Florence said. “Still, this has all been a bit much and some of the others are complaining you could be more modest.”

“They'll appreciate it when it works,” Leon said. “Besides, are you really telling the truth about me being your child? I've heard some stories about a ghost who looks similar to me around.”

Unfortunately, that just made her certainly angry. “Don't listen to her! She gave you up because she couldn't protect you. We've done our best for you, but why do you have to be so strange?” Then she ran off.

“Florence!” Murdoch said, nearly running out of the room after her. But then he paused. “You know you shouldn't agitate your mother like that. Now she'll be in one of those moods; it was months before we could get her back to normal last time.”

“Why does she have to be so difficult like that?” Leon asked, his face burning in embarrassment. “It's not like there's any warning, she just turns face so quickly.”

“It's not her fault,” he insisted, snapping at him too. “And you're right, you're not our child. You came from some half-dead stranger who fell from the sky. I thought we should have just left you because you obviously weren't a normal child, but she insisted. Agh, Florence.” He then went off after her.

“Why do you both have to be so difficult?” Leon grumbled.

Adults just didn't like clever children. Besides, this was ridiculously irresponsible of them for running off in strange moods at the final stage of a major construction. Not to mention calling him strange... he wasn't strange, just different! Leon sniffled a little, but then clenched his fists. No, he wasn't going to be irresponsible like them. He was going to finish work on the Lacour Hope and save people. Then, everyone would know that it was his genius that did so and would honestly respect him.

After rubbing his tears away and blowing his nose, Leon went back to the work area with the pipes. One of the other lab workers was there, looking over an uncoated pipe and nearby diagrams to see what should be done. From the look of it, no others had been coated. “I can handle this quick and proper, so I'll be doing this stage, thank you.”

The lab worker scowled for a moment, then took the expression away. “If that's what you want, Master Leon.” He then put the pipe down walked off.

“You'll be taking back your rudeness, all of you,” Leon grumbled as he took the pipe. Before long, he was able to get his mind off stupid adult things and focus entirely on the soothing hum of the energy stone dust.

After this, maybe he'd ask the moat if he should stop listening to the adults once he'd proven himself.

* * *

 

-Lacour castle wall, Ashton

The monsters that were coming to attack Lacour were the same ones who ravaged the countryside of Eluria months ago. Maybe some of them were even transformed humans; there really wasn't a way to tell as they fell as monsters, not people. Doing this all over again was like reliving a nightmare... Ashton shook his head, trying to dispel those thoughts. He couldn't afford to be afraid again. Although his country had fallen, these demons seemed interested in overtaking the whole world. They had to do whatever they could to stop them. At least no one was going insane and turning into demons here. Perhaps that only happened in close proximity to the Sorcery Globe. But then that didn't account for some stories his friends had, like a man named Alen who was saved by Rena's magic, or a master mage who let himself be turned and couldn't be saved. Both them, and a handful of other tales going around the castle, seemed to be connected to energy stone. Perhaps the Globe was made of it.

Ururun poked him. _Hey, you got friendly company._

“Thanks,” he said quietly, turning to see Rena coming along the castle wall with a basket under her arm and a water jug tied to her belt. “You okay on your own up here?”

“I'm fine,” she said, giving him a smile. “The castle servants had been asked to send supplies up here, but they were scared. I ended up volunteering. Here, I brought some sandwiches from the kitchen, plus water and medicine if you need it.”

“Thanks, I could use some extra healing potions,” Ashton said, taking the empty containers he had from his bag to trade her for new ones. “Is there some roast beef sandwiches in there?”

“Yeah, there should be a few left,” she said, getting the potions swapped before looking for the sandwich. “Are you doing okay on this part of the wall on your own?”

He pointed over to a nearby guard tower. “There's other guys who have patrol routes overlapping mine, and the guard tower will call attention to someone who needs help. It's not that bad. Plus, it's not been long enough since the last wave to fit their attack patterns.”

“Who said we all need to fit a pattern?” a rough voice said from an impossible position beyond the wall.

Quickly stepping to put himself between Rena and the voice, Ashton turned to it and saw that it was a winged devil, with black bat wings, a whip-like tail, and violet skin. This was more like what the transformed humans had been like, the strong ones like the king. However, it seemed to be on its own. It grinned with thin lips as the alarm sounded from a nearby tower.

“So quick to fight, even if you can't do so very well,” the devil said, smug in hovering a few feet from the wall. Rena cast Starlight to strike it without leaving her spot, but it merely glanced off a shimmering polygonal shield that only appeared when hit.

“What do you want?” Ashton asked. He was pretty sure that Gyoro and Ururun's breath attacks could hit the devil, but it was just far enough away that it'd only get caught in the edge of the attack. If the attack got past that shield.

“Hee, well I'd love to come in and wreak havoc, but I have different orders,” it said. “I'm not like the rest, see? I have a name: Shin. What's your name?”

“Ashton Anchors,” he replied, not sure what this was about.

“Not you,” the devil said dismissively. “I have no interest in men. You girl, what's your name?”

“Err, Rena Lanford,” she said, keeping close to Ashton.

Shin giggled. “Oh, really? How intriguing. I wonder if you're that Rena.”

“What Rena?” she asked.

That just made him laugh again. “It's a story, an old old story that's older than any story you've ever heard. I can guarantee it. But see, they say that one time, a woman named Reema was trying to harness an incredible power that was so immense that it could put time and space at her bidding. Only, it didn't work. There was a failure and dozens of people died as a result. However, they say that one person survived because Reema managed to use a shred of that power to launch her young daughter Rena far away into the future. Calculations show that, hmm, she might have ended up in this time. What do you think?”

“I think you're making that up,” Rena said.

“Maybe you just need to learn a thing or two about yourself,” Shin said. “Hmm, well I think I've got what I came for...” he was interrupted by a bolt from a crossbow that pinged off his shield, fired by a knight further down the wall. Shin screeched and cast a spell that sent a horridly hot gale that burned their skin; Ashton grabbed hold of Rena so she didn't get blown off the wall. “Pah, don't disrupt me,” Shin grumbled. “I'll have you know that I purposely held back, so that you know that I chose not to kill you here. Otherwise, you wouldn't be standing here as any more than a pile of ashes. Hmph.” Shin then took off through the air at speeds that not even the fastest bird could match.

“Are you all right?” Ashton asked, taking one of his hands of her shoulder.

“Yeah, here,” she cast her healing spell, but the crossbow knight wasn’t in range to be helped with it. “Probably for the best that it didn’t stick around. Oh, right, your sandwich.” She got a roast beef sandwich out and gave it to him. “I hope things are quieter.”

“Can’t count on that, but thanks for the supplies,” he said. “Be careful finishing your rounds.”

Rena smiled. “Sure, got to do what I can to help you guys out. I’ll see you later.” She then headed off to heal up the other knight and continue on down the wall.

Rumor had it that the Lacour Hope was due to be completed later today. Once it had been fired, it wouldn’t be long before they would sail for Eluria. The king planned on sending the cannon with them to help blast out the coast to make it safe for landing. Hopefully it would deter the monsters from continuing their battles here.

But if they had more like Shin, maybe not.

* * *

 

-Precis

The Lacour court was so annoying! They had sent the guys off to help defend the wall almost immediately, but not the girls. Apparently they thought girls weren’t good at fighting, even though Leon could tell them she was good with her punching arm too. Rena didn’t mind; she helped out in the infirmary with Bowman and ran supplies around. Precis didn’t like it, so she looked in the library for a little while.

But then, that wasn’t enough to keep her occupied entirely. Listening to some knights, she figured out where the Lacour Hope was: it was in two places, the lab in the basement and up in a tower of the castle. Precis tried the basement but there were guards that kept her from going in. However, she didn’t find guards in the supposed tower, so she climbed up to see what was there.

There was a large cannon up there. It was an advanced model too, with shafts that could extend the barrel so that it could fire for longer distances. On the side, there was a hatch she opened up to see the inner workings. There was a big gap inside that was unseal, probably the spot for mechanisms the lab was working on. Where there should be an area for the gunpowder and stuff for ignition, there wasn’t anything. Since the barrel was narrow, it seemed this one didn’t use cannonballs either.

“A magic cannon?” Precis wondered aloud. “Awesome, but I couldn’t use it. Boo.”

“Hey, what are you doing up there?” Leon asked, annoyed. He was coming over from the stairs, followed by some guards carrying large boxes and another lab worker.

“Nobody stopped me from coming up here!” she said cheerfully. “Hey, so you gonna use magic to make it shoot better?”

“Magic and some mechanical mechanisms,” Leon said.

“You should leave so we can get to work,” the lab worker said.

“Hey, I’m really good at machines and I want to see what it’s gonna do,” she argued.

“She actually is,” Leon said. “Well, if it’s you, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt at this point. Maybe you could even help connect the shafts.”

“Yeah, thanks!” She went over and watched as they unpacked the boxes.

The main part of the new mechanisms was a big coil of tubing, circling with one coil inside the other in order to make it one long continuous tube. A switch and a Y joint made it so something could travel in the big coils or escape out the cannon barrel. Along the big coils, there were magic crystals linked up to the firing operator’s stand next to the cannon. According to Leon, that would allow the Lacour Hope to be used by a single operator instead of three. The crystals needed to trigger vacuum points, which otherwise had to be set up with separate spells.

Once they had it put together, Leon sent a small spell through it to make sure the connections were good. “All right, we’re ready to go.” Then an alarm sounded, notice of a monster attack. “Good timing too, as we can make the first firing right away.

“Awesome!” Precis said, happy that she could be out here to see it. She went over to the wall of the tower to see what was out there.

There was what seemed to be a cloud on the horizon, gray and shimmering. It moved rapidly, pouring from the valley straight for the castle. After getting out her binoculars, she could tell that it was a flood of monsters, of all kinds and shapes, those she knew and those she never imagined. This was far more than what she thought the monster army had been.

“That’s horrible,” the guard next to her said, spooked. “There hasn’t been a mass like that this whole time!”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered,” Leon said, already in the operator’s position. “I can get this taken care of.” He raised his hand, causing a ring of light to appear around him. He cast a spell into the ring, transferring it into the cannon and to the crystals. Inside the cannon, there was a hum that quickly grew into a whistle. Leon watched the reactions of the ring, then triggered the shaft to extend and the switch to open.

A brief green glow appeared around the extended barrel before a beam of light burst out of the cannon. It certainly looked like a spell. Lowering her binoculars to watch, Precis saw as the beam of light held together until it was right in front of the oncoming wave of monsters. Then, it splintered into hundreds of smaller pieces that went flying everywhere, briefly obscuring the cloud of monsters. She looked back in the binoculars to see that many of the monsters were killed immediately in the onslaught. What ones weren't hit immediately didn't care and kept running. But, the spell from the Lacour Hope kept going too, sending rays after all of the monsters. When it was finally out of energy, she didn't see any survivors.

Up in the tower, they could barely hear some cheers from those who had been watching. “That was the greatest fireworks show ever!” Precis said, jumping in place. “Too bad it was daylight, though.”

“I suppose you could alter it for more bursts of weaker power if you just wanted a show,” Leon said, thinking it over.

“And put more noise in it,” Precis said. “Because it was a cool sound, like shiizooom, and kirizzle, but people expect bangs and booms from fireworks.”

“Wow, that really worked,” the guard said. “Forget about fireworks, we can really fight back against them now. No one would be able to stand against the might of Lacour.”

“Of course it worked,” Leon said, coming out of the operator's circle. “I did everything for it, from designing to testing to building. Well with some help from others, they were good, but I did a lot of it.”

Precis clapped her hands together. “No wonder everybody calls you Master Leon! Haha, I've got to get you to help me with my punching arm so I can make it more explosive!”

Leon raised an eyebrow to that. “Are you sure you want a close-quarters weapon like that to be explosive? It's attached to the backpack that you're wearing, after all.”

“Well then we just have to make sure the explosion is all on the enemy, not me,” she said, tossing her ponytail happily. “Too bad your parents weren't out here to see it. I bet they'd be real proud of you now.”

His ears twisted back. “One would think so,” he said, but didn't really explain.

* * *

 

-Energy Nede, Nede Government Building of Central Island, Chisato

At the start, nothing was to come in or out of the protective shielding that was around Energy Nede. Chisato often wondered about that. Was it because their ancestors were afraid of retaliation? Or was it really to protect the rest of the universe from what they could do? Not many argued about taking it down either. There had been a few curious souls like herself who wanted to know more, but the general consensus of the population stuck to keeping it in place because many thought it was the best for everyone. But was it really?

They weren't completely isolated, though. At some point in the first hundred generations, someone shot a powerful satellite into the edges of the protective shield. There had been a lot of fuss about it, but then what they heard at the time convinced them that it shouldn't be a problem. They heard nothing from other civilizations through the satellite, even though it could get precise readings on any star in their home galaxy. Because of that, the satellite was able to remain.

Thus, the Nedians became capable of recording the rise and fall of other galactic civilizations. It nearly always started with a large amount of noise as the worlds grew communication technology. Eventually, the satellite would be transmitting a steady stream of broadcasts from the new galactic rulers. Broadcasts for entertainment, for scientific research, for assistance, for battles, it would all come down to Energy Nede and their scholars would study those roaming space. But in time, something would cause these civilizations to cease. Maybe it was wars between planets; maybe it was diseases that wiped out those wanderers. One time, it was because of a glitch in spaceship technology that caused an entire fleet to fail; theory had it that a similar glitch, or even the same one, had ruined that civilization's home planet and colonies, keeping it silent in death.

The important thing, at least what most Nedians thought, was that these other civilizations never got to the level where they could even detect Energy Nede's existence. They kept the records and kept listening. After all, new things were extremely rare for a race that had survived billions of years.

Actually, one of the newest things on Energy Nede was an upgrade that had been made to the spying satellite around two thousand years ago. Someone had detected the emergence of a primitive civilization on a planet within the steady and slow path of Energy Nede. There was interest in the novelty of watching a race that was still getting the hang of the basics, so a collaborative effort was made to launch a few Nedian objects to the planet that would allow a few devices to watch their planetary neighbors. And thus, a new position was born: the Expellian chronicler. Chisato was the current holder of this position.

She hadn't been too happy about it at first, as it seemed to be all fluff writing. Previous chroniclers had followed a few Expellians through their daily lives, describing their struggles to a population that knew no struggle themselves. Or they related myths and philosophies as they were being built. Sometimes, they even poked fun at the struggles of these people to learn what were basic facts to Nedians, like mathematics, heraldry, and even farming.

But a few months ago, she had stumbled on something big. In the tiny town of Arlia, which she had been watching to write about the teachings of a priest there, Chisato became a witness to an Expellian legend coming to life. The myth of the Warrior, who was an angelic being that would descend on Expel to drive away a horde of demons before they caused a catastrophic event with a shining blade of light, seemed to be fulfilled with the mysterious arrival of an ensign from Pangalactic Federation who was eventually asked to stop the trouble caused by the Sorcery Globe.

A lot of it was mistakes made by witnessing things they couldn't explain, like the plasma weapon that the ensign Claude used. And the Sorcery Globe was truly a catastrophe, being brought by the wicked Ten Wise Men on some cryptic plan they were carrying out. It might even be one that couldn't be stopped. But, it made for good stories. People kept asking her for more updates on the situation, to the point where her boss took her off other projects to focus on being the chronicler. It was irritating in some ways, like how he'd taken her off the birds of paradise investigation (which she really wanted to make sure it got followed through). Still, it was the most interesting story she'd come across as chronicler, so she didn't complain for very long.

But it was getting down to the wire. Having watched the group that gathered around Claude struggle to get to their destination, she noticed things. Like how every time the Quadratic Key that Rena wore shone, Energy Nede and Expel made dramatic leaps towards each other. The latter was even orbiting at its usual speed around the star (named Actura by the Pangalactic Federation), but backwards. If Rena actually made it to the Elurian continent, then Expel was doomed without a doubt.

Chisato questioned the mayor about it, but Narl was the same as always. “It's being worked on. We're even considering some unusual options.”

“Narl, there's been months to work on this,” she said. “Over a year on their world and your researchers still can't come anything? Because if you keep being tight-lipped about this, that's what people are going to assume.”

“We're doing what we can, and that's all we can say right now,” he said, an immaculate politician to the core. Although, that was precisely how the genetic engineering group made the mayors, so he was simply doing as designed. “You should record as much as you can of Expel, if you do care about them.”

It was almost like acknowledging that they really couldn't do anything, but she wouldn't be able to print a challenge to him based on those words. “All right, but I hope you've got something planned.” She left the room and shut the door behind her. Chisato never liked talking to Narl. When he wanted to impress the populous, he would give wonderfully rousing speeches. But when he didn't want you intruding on his work, he would speak in the most dry and boring manner possible.

Chisato was so annoyed by him that she didn't see his secretary scurrying around with a large handful of files. On collision, papers poured out of the bulky files and onto the spotless tile floor. “Oops, I'm so so sorry, m'am,” the secretary said frantically, hurrying to pick up the mess.

“No, I'm sorry for not watching my way,” Chisato said, kneeling down to help her gather papers. However, one popped out at her for having an ancient letterhead on it; it was the sign of the Nedian Military Force that had been disbanded in the decades after Energy Nede was sealed off.

Since the secretary was still scrambling around, she glanced over it. It was an automated notice, one that requested an investigation into possible treason. The reason for treason? Someone had attempted over twenty times to hack into the Library's database to open up the secret files that had long taunted Energy Nede's researchers. That someone was one Professor Reyfus of Giveaway University. Interesting...

Chisato shuffled it and a bunch other papers into one large pile, since she wasn't sure how to sort them. “Here you go. This is gonna be a mess, huh? Want some help sorting it?”

For a moment, the secretary was almost grateful. But then she saw the press badge that Chisato wore and shook her head. “N-no, I'll handle it. Besides, it's not like I have much else to do on slow days like this.” She laughed nervously and set the stack she had on the largest desk surface and then went to retrieve the last few pieces.

Reyfus... Chisato was supposed to be working on the chronicler position, but it would just be a dismal recording of facts before the world ended. It might more interesting to see how he was progressing in reading those files.


	31. Shin's Assault

-ship bound for Eluria coast, Leon

After two quiet days when no more monsters came from the Eluria continent, the Lacour Hope had been removed from its tower and transported over to Port Hilton. The seas were dangerous these days, so they could only pull together three warships to make the crossing. The Hope cannon was set securely on the largest ship. To make sure there were no more civilians on Eluria, Claude and his friends were conscripted into a scout party that would head over ahead of them. They were to make a quick survey of the continent (it was the smallest of the three known continents and they had a local who knew where people would likely gather), expected to take a week. Then, the Lacourian military would attack with the Lacour Hope aimed right at the tower that the devils had built at the impact site of the Sorcery Globe, where Eluria Castle had once stood.

And Leon was aboard the main warship as the operator of the Lacour Hope. The king had accepted this readily, although some of the soldiers were complaining about having to deal with the 'lab brat' as they called him. Unfortunately, his parents couldn't come along, Florence because she wasn't well and Murdoch because he was going to take care of her. Although, should he really think of them like his parents anymore? This could be good for him, like Claude had said a while back. He was the lead scientist of the castle, so maybe he should try to cut off all his childish tendencies.

Then again... his parents weren't totally bad. They had taught him about science and magic, never holding back on account of his age. On good days, they were great: including him in their discussions, offering assistance on his projects without being overbearing, even defending him to others who looked down on him (figuratively so). His father was a little slow to praise, but a small nod usually meant his approval. And his mother would sometimes proudly gush on about him to anyone who listened.

That was good days, though. Sometimes his mother would say that she was proud of him and happy that things worked according to his plans. But other times, she would say that she wished he was more of a child and bugged him about silly things like going to play with the dumb peasant children. Sometimes such extremes occurred within minutes of each other. Florence was so unpredictable, but at least she loved him. Unless he'd hurt her too much with asking about the ghost; thinking on that made him turn down his ears sadly.

“Hey Leon,” Rena said, coming over to him. “Is something wrong?”

“I'm just thinking,” he said, figuring that he shouldn't whine or complain. Kids whined and he needed to prove that he was just as good as an adult. Just, without their tendency to make things needlessly complicated.

“Do you miss your parents?” she asked. Leon twitched his ears in annoyance; was he that easy to read? Or maybe that was just an obvious guess on her part. Still, Rena stayed by him and said, “You can talk to me about it; it should help you feel better.”

Maybe. “I can do this, so I’ll be fine,” he said. “But, I kind of miss them. I miss how they were more than anything.”

“How can you miss how they were?” Rena asked, curious. But she seemed sympathetic instead of dismissive, which was nice.

“Well, it's...” how did he explain this? “Momma's a bit strange sometimes. I mean, really strange. She can go from ecstatic to devastated in a blink or she'll work for hours on end without noticing time go by... she comes up with really brilliant things during that time. But then on other days, she'll pester everyone to take breaks all the time and isn't motivated to stick to one project. I heard, somewhere, that an imbalance in her mind keeps her from controlling her emotions sometimes.”

It was from the moat, actually, when he'd gone to watch it after firing the Lacour Hope for the first time. The moat was also worried about the cannon. Something like, it was all well and good when there was a big predator around, but what about when the predator was gone? What would it be used for then? Leon couldn't answer that, since the king made the decisions and gave the orders.

“That’s a scary thing to think about,” Rena said. “It can't be her fault then, so we can't blame her for being strange.”

“Could you do something to help her?” Leon asked, curious. After all, Rena could already to what was thought to be impossible in healing through heraldry.

“I'm not sure,” she replied. “I don't know if my magic works to heal people's minds. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said, looking back at the ocean. “You can't do what you can't do. But I wish there was something that could be done. It might make Papa be nicer to me again, after he said last time that I wasn’t their son.”

“Really?” Rena asked. “I know how terrible that is, except my mother never told me that I wasn't their child. But I always worried, what if I made her mad enough to make her reject me because of that.”

“You too?” Leon asked, surprised.

She nodded. “Yeah, Mom found me in the forest by Arlia when I was really little. But you know, she and my Dad, the ones who adopted me, they love me as much as they would have their own child. I'm sure your parents feel the same way, Leon. But, maybe more complicated because of your mother's imbalance. Your dad might have been just upset over your mom being in a bad state and said things he didn't really mean. You should talk to him again when things are calmer.”

“You think so?” Leon asked. He hoped it was that way, since it made sense. Emotions made it hard to think logically. Even being tired could make it hard to think straight, and he could remember saying things he didn't really mean when he was cranky.

Rena nodded. “Yes. At the very least, you can't give up on them. My parents weren't my birth parents, but they're still my parents because they loved me and took care of me. It must be the same with you.”

“I'm sure Momma loves me, when she's not in her stranger moods,” Leon said. “Do you think I should get them a present to make an apology? Or will just talking to them be enough. I don't know; I’ve read it both ways in history books.”

“It couldn't hurt,” Rena said, but then was interrupted by an alarm on the ship. According to the speakers, there was an aerial squadron of monsters coming their way.

“I'd better go,” Leon said. “But thanks for helping out.” He hurried over to the operator's station.

“You can do it!” Rena cheered after him.

Of course he could, though it was nice to have the encouragement. But when he got there, the ship's captain wanted him to hold off on firing just yet. They were going to try the regular cannons first. It annoyed Leon. However, the king wasn't there and the main warship's captain was thus the leader of this expedition. He watched as the warships attempted to fire their cannonballs at the small swift monsters flying overhead. They hit a couple, but more out of luck than anything since that was it out of twelve volleys. Then the captain finally told him to fire the Lacour Hope while they gave cover fire.

That was good; the monsters wouldn't try swooping down to interrupt him then. Leon activated the cannon and lifted its shaft up to fire into the air. At first, he wasn't entirely sure of what the trajectory would be; he didn't have much experience firing cannons like the sailors on this ship would have. However, he could still hear the energy crystal dust and it told him where the beam would fly and where the energy would burst. That allowed him to get the angle right. He cast the vacuum spell to set the Lacour Hope into activity.

The shot was perfect, heading straight for one of the larger monsters (albeit a human-sized one) in the air. It would have struck that devil and burst upon impact. However, the devil didn't even bother to dodge it like its peers had dodged the cannonballs for the most part. It brought up a shield which reflected the Lacour Hope's energy back downward. It burst a hundred yards above the ships, then sent its attack rays down into the three ships instead. In an instant, two of the ships were immediately sunk as they were riddled with too many gaping holes. The water hissed on contact with the heated metal and rose into the air as mist, along with smoke.

On the main ship, the entire deck shuddered so strongly that Leon was knocked onto his back. This wasn't supposed to happen! The Lacour Hope was the strongest weapon on the planet. How did that monster manage to reflect it so easily? He heard Rena call his name, but Leon looked straight up trying to figure out how it worked... and the devil that ruined their plans so quickly flew down to meet with him.

As the devil arrived, so did Rena and Claude. The former came to his side while the latter stood to defend them. Where were the others? “Keep your hands off these two,” Claude said.

The devil just laughed at that. “And what do you think you're going to do with that little stick of yours? I can deflect that big weapon, so your weapon doesn't scare me. Not that it mattered, since this one was just a decoy.”

“What?” Leon asked in disbelief. That wasn't right. A decoy was something you made to fool your enemy, not something you made your enemy build. Of course, it being deflected seemed wrong too.

“Just a decoy, just a game,” the purple-skinned devil said. “We were playing with you since you never had a chance, but you're pushing the game to dangerous levels now.” It then flung a clawed hand out, somehow ripping the Lacour Hope out of place without touching it at all. “I'll be taking this; it should make for a fun toy with some alterations from your primitive work. Now you losers, say hello to...” it then screamed.

Because Claude had enough of it and had darted forward to slash at the devil's slender chest. It might have been able to block the Lacour Hope, but somehow it wasn't able to do the same to the Eternal Sphere. The shining sword sliced right through its barely visible shield and its now undefended body. Both the devil and the Lacour Hope crashed onto the deck, the latter severely cracking the already damaged deck. The devil shouted for its underlings to grab the cannon while dangerous creaks sounded all around them.

“A-are there any smaller boats to get away on?” Rena asked.

Before anyone could answer her, the ship broke apart. The section they were on tilted rapidly, causing everything to slide into the cool northern ocean. Claude tried to grab them both, but only got Rena as Leon slipped faster into the water, screaming in fright. Before he could react to grab anything, he was plunged completely into the water.

Completely submerged... water all around him... it had a different voice from the moat. Full of minerals, more complex streams, and many life forms... much debris and many dying life forms. But after the shock of hitting the water, Leon found his mind completely absorbed in it. The moat was friendly and familiar, this was... much older, much more powerful, much larger, much more information. There were grave disturbances in the world as time had begun to flow backwards, jostling the slumbering leviathan that was the world's oceans.

Leon felt like he was nothing more than a period in an immense tome... a tiny period that might fade away from this immense memory due to sheer size.

* * *

 

-Lacour continent, Opera

The past few days had been busy, but there wasn't much to show for it.

After Opera and Ernest had departed from the group she'd been traveling with, they headed north through a mountain valley to find Ernest's ship. It was a tough parting, since she wasn't sure if she could see them again. Once they made their reports, the university might not be happy that they went to this undocumented planet-bound civilization and forbid them from returning. It would be particularly vindictive if they decided to tell the Federation officials about it, since then it might come out that this wasn't the first time they'd done so. But, it was too dismal to think of it that way. There was a chance for a good argument about making contact with Expel, in which case she might be asked to return officially. That'd be good.

The trip to the ship was tough in another way, as powerful monsters roamed the countryside. These weren't the same crazed beasts that lurked around the Lacour countryside before the tournament. These were monsters straight out of the Hoffman Island Ruins, with those of equal or greater power joining them. Fortunately, this meant that they could release the binds they'd put on their weapons to keep with the underdeveloped planet treaty. The native people wouldn't be out to see them, most likely. Even so, a few of the monsters still proved tough to best.

Then they got to the ship and Opera found his choice of craft funny. “You took one of the Star Hoppers?” she asked. It was about the size of the sailing ship that had taken them to Hoffman Island, minus the sails and the ability to walk around on top of it when in use. Knowing the university's fleet, she knew that this model would come with a small lab for examining gathered samples and analyzing the surrounding area. It was meant for a class to take on a field trip.

“Well that is what I normally take on excavations,” Ernest said, pulling off a plant that had decided to grow up the sides.

“It’s rather large for just one person,” she teased him.

He smiled sheepishly. “Well I thought about bringing some students along... but then that would require me to wait so they could request time away from school and family, not to mention time to get the trip approved by the board who dawdle on every issue but their personal interests, and I was too impatient to hang around for all that. But the idea was still in mind when I grabbed the keys.”

Then the door jammed only a couple inches open, meaning that Ernest hadn't looked too carefully at which craft he'd taken; a few were known to be annoyances like this. He tried to pull it open, but still wasn't at full strength to do it. Instead, Opera had to pry off a nearby panel and fiddle with the inner workings to get it to release (and nearly bonk Ernest in the head in the process). They got the Star Hopper to activate, but then had to go back out to scare some animals that had decided to nest under and around the starship. One small rodent had even managed to get one of the other panels loose to squeeze in and give birth inside. They had to go clean that out thoroughly so no problems occurred while they were in the midst of a warp or the like.

Once all the local fauna and flora were cleared from the craft, they sealed up the door (and had to make sure it would stay sealed, opening when they wanted) and headed to the cockpit. Ernest went right into running the standard checks, which meant that he first took the navigator's seat. Opera slipped into the pilot’s seat and started helping him out.

It took a full three minutes for Ernest to realize that. “What are you doing in there?” he asked jokingly.

“Hey, you're the one who didn't take it first,” she said, giving him a wink.

“Fair enough,” he said, getting back to work.

“And if I didn't take piloting away from you, you'd probably send us off in another direction than home,” she said.

“Aw, I said that I’d go home with you,” he said, playfully pouting.

“Yeah, but when?”

Then he laughed. “All right, all right, you got me.” Then he grabbed the radio piece; that was also standard procedure even if this was practically in the middle of nowhere on the galactic scale. “Hello, hello, if anybody's out there, this is, ah,” he glanced at a sticker on the control panel, “Jelkiatar Five Eight Seven Five of Tentragenes. We're taking off from this lovely little world and heading back home.” As he put it back, he mouthed, 'as much as I’d rather not.', making Opera snort with laughter.

Surprisingly, they got a response. A very static filled response, but a response all the same. “Hello? Who w... at? Thi...s Calnus of.... Fed...ation, please rep... ...r mess....”

Then a second voice, “Wa... fix... recept....”

“Whoa, somebody else is out here?” Ernest asked, grabbing the radio again. “Yeah, Calnus? What're you doing out there?”

“That was the ship Claude was on,” Opera said, recalling his story. “I wonder if they came looking for him finally.”

There was a brief whine from the radio, before the interference cleared up. “You still out there, stranger?”

“Yup, still down here,” Ernest said. “We're from Scelida University on Tetragenes; was doing some private star system surveys when engine troubles forced us down on the surface of the third planet. Finally in a position to leave now, thank goodness.”

Opera leaned back in the pilot's chair, not bothering to correct his lie. Technically, her ship had engine difficulties and crashed. But it was a good cover and the Calnus communications officer bought it. “I see. We were on here on an official survey. Who are you? And do you happen to have one Ensign Claude Kenni with you? He's been taken from our ship on accident.”

While the officer was talking, Opera leaned over to grab Ernest's wrist. She shook her head, so he nodded. “Can't say that we've seen him,” he replied. “I'm Professor Ernest Raviende, and Professor Opera Vectra is with me as well. It's just the two of us here.”

“All right. Did you say you were the third planet?”

“Yes I did,” Ernest said, raising an eyebrow.

“Ah, well,” the officer got nervous. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but I doubt you'll be able to get off planet. There's a high energy astral body that is dangerously close to it. You would have seen unusually active aurora down there; the gravitation and magnetic fields of the planet and astral body are in conflict, which could tear your craft apart once you get out of the atmosphere. And it seems like the two are about to collide, within the next few weeks.”

“That soon?” Opera asked. It hadn't been that close when she'd been coming. Then again, it was very noticeable in the sky now, more than it should have been.

Ernest grumbled something under his breath, then asked, “Are the atmospheric conditions opposite the astral body safe to fly through, or is that going to fry our equipment?”

“Very likely to fry your ship, sorry. The magnetic storms are nearly ceaseless all over the atmosphere. And it's too late for us to be trying to use our teleporters to or from the surface. We're using a lot of power just trying to talk.”

“Nothing for you to be sorry about,” Ernest said, frowning.

So this was it; there was going to be a planetary collision and they'd be risking their lives trying to escape. Maybe if they had a top-notch vehicle, then she wouldn't mind chancing the escape run. Even one with just enough defenses to get them through the atmosphere, now that they knew the Calnus was out there for a possible pick-up. But, the Star Hopper wasn't good enough. This craft was forbidden from zones where there was any chance of galactic conflict, or from making dives onto dangerous planets like gas giants. It was perfectly suited for explorations where one wouldn't mind taking students who'd never been in space before, where the civilizations weren't about to (or were unable to) attack them. She should have known from the aurora that it was going to be a long shot at getting away now.

There was just one thing that came to mind: what would be left of this planet? It was in an area that was in the process of being charted and studied, not well known or recorded. Opera got up and leaned over the navigator chair to take the radio piece. “Excuse me, but if there's little chance of us getting off here, would you take reports on the planet from our observations while being here? I'd hate to see this place get snuffed with virtually nothing recorded about it.”

Ernest took the piece back. “Yeah, we've got a number of records of landmarks, artifacts, and people that we have. Just give us some time to get things together, and pass it along to the university for us.”

“As you wish,” the officer said. “We really wish we could do something to help you get off.”

“Well if you come up with anything, let us know,” he said. “Otherwise, we'll be getting these pieces together.”

“Right.”

And so, the next few days were filled with loads of writing for Opera. Ernest had kept notes as usual, but Opera hadn't because she lost a number of supplies for recording in her crash. But what did she want to record for this planet? She hadn't been here long enough to really know its history and beliefs. She had some observations on politics, society, economics, and so on that suggested they were on the brink of widespread change.... which would never happen now. However, it didn't seem right to give as some of the few records that the federation would have on this planet. And she didn't have a lot of time, as eventually their communications with Calnus would have to stop entirely due to interference.

She ended up writing about things she'd seen. A tiny village which took in a stranger from the forest, a town celebrating the defeat of a dragon (except the one who had supposedly defeated it), a royal wedding where difficulty in producing goods made such elaboration more meaningful, the liveliness and superstition of port towns and sailing ship crews, a pharmacist openly admitting to quackery because it was still tasty, all the excitement, thrills, and danger of a combat tournament where there was nearly no safety net from severe injury, a mine that would drive people insane but held minerals of such value that they came anyhow... and even something they saw while stuck at their ship: a brilliant streak in the sky followed by tremendous explosions taking out a huge force of monsters. That must have been Leon's secret weapon, the Lacour Hope. Perhaps the most advanced technology on the planet outside of Precis' family hoard of space age treasures. But if it wasn't for this planetary collision that was out of anyone's control, what kind of imbalance would this weapon cause? Perhaps it would even deflate the potential for the historical changes in society that she had been predicting.

Once they were done with their reports and sent them up to the Calnus, Ernest started fiddling with the control panel from the pilot’s seat. “I’ve been thinking, since we’re stuck here…”

“What?” Opera asked. Usually that statement was dangerous from him. But, since there was an unavoidable fate that she’d rather not think about, this might be worth considering.

“We can’t leave, but we should be just fine flying on the planet. And at this point, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go up to Eluria and use the ship scanners on the Sorcery Globe. If anything can solve this, it might just be what started it.”

Flying a spaceship on an underdeveloped planet… but yes, at this point the secrecy hardly mattered. Plus, she thought that only the northern Lacour fort was in the way and that should be uninhabited like Eluria itself. “Right, good idea. Let’s go!”

* * *

 

-Energy Nede, North City, Chisato

“I know it’s here, just where,” Chisato mumbled, coming up the stairs to her apartment. It was a single room with a bed and work area, and lots of storage places. Downstairs, there was a health store where she was allowed to use the kitchen in back, so she had everything she wanted for a living space. But finding the things in her room could take hours.

But it wasn’t something she actually used, so it wouldn’t be in in the larger dressers where she kept her daily items. She pulled out the underbed container where she kept books, computer backups, and newspaper references. That was the most logical place… but of course it wasn’t where she put the thing. After two more false tries, she opened a hidden drawer underneath her television and finally found it. It was two red glass plates clamped together securely, trapping a single piece of paper inside. She’d picked it up on winning a bet in the battle stadium, as its former owner had inherited it and had no idea what it was. On the other hand, she had a pretty good idea, just not the knowledge to make use of it.

Tucking that into her bag, she left her apartment and headed to the teleporter station. There were ferries, but this was the quickest way around. She asked to go to Giveway University and was there in the cold town in seconds. For some reason, the designers of Energy Nede decided to have this town constantly in winter or rain, even though it was the town of education. Sure, it tended to give excuses to stay inside to study… but the weather was so dismal at times when the artificial sun didn’t come through.

The university was quiet when she entered. In the front lobby, there was a map that told where what classes were being held currently, as well as personnel offices. According to it, Reyfus was on the second floor of the west hallway. Chisato headed up and past the classroom. There were three, but two were empty and the third only had five students in a classroom made for thirty. That was common lately, worsened by the fact that a lot of talented Nedians, students or not, had been called into the Nedian Defense Force once the Ten Wise Men were known to be outside their prison.

At the end of the hallway, there was a research lab that seemed to be for chemistry. There was no one in there. However, there was an office with a light on across the entrance. She went over and knocked on the door. “Professor Reyfus?”

He glanced over his shoulder, puzzled. “Yes?”

She smiled. “Hey, I’m Chisato Madison, from the Nedian Times. There’s something I’d like to discuss with you, about your research.”

“Which one? I’ve worked on a lot of projects.”

“About the secret files in North library’s database,” she said. “I know you’ve been trying to hack into it.”

He turned around immediately, tensing up defensively. “It was just accessing the other files; there some spots where it’s easy to hit it on accident.”

“Yeah, but most accidental accesses won’t trigger a hacking warning from the automated military programs,” she pointed out. “But don’t worry! It seems to have been dismissed as not important and I’m not about to argue that dismissal. In fact, I think I can help you. May I come in?”

“Oh, um, sure, if that’s the case,” Reyfus said, snapping a finger. A chair got pulled over from under another desk. “Come on in.”

“Thanks! I’m curious to know what’s in there too.” She took the chair and sat down, then pulled the press from her bag. “A couple years back, I managed to acquire this from someone who didn’t realize the value of it. This item, with this particular tint of glass, used to be used to preserve important papers for the military. By my thoughts, it’s been long enough that it doesn’t matter anymore. I’ve looked at it, but it’s not useful to me.” She undid the clamps and gave him the paper.

He took it and read it. “Instructions and passwords… yes, this looks right. It should be something that will allow me to upgrade my account to access these military files. But, it could take a while, so you might want to come back later.”

“Aw, I wanted to see that it did work.” So she hung around for the next hour while he worked around the database security, trying to get to the military parts to register without causing the security to block them out. But it worked, letting them get in and find military records on its last century of operation. Despite its importance to Energy Nede’s existence, it was a time period with scant information on what happened.

“This even has records on the Ten Wise Men,” Reyfus said, grinning in excitement. “This could be really valuable. Tell you what, I’ll comb through the records and give you a review on them. What military documents I’ve seen were kept in a particular style that’s not easy to read.”

“I know, they’re all circuitous and trying to bore outside readers away until the real meat of the records comes up,” she said. “Thanks! Trouble is, I don’t know if I’ll be able to print all of it, or if I’ll get Narl angry at us for it. But we’ll find a way.”

“No, thanks for bringing the registration paper to me,” he said. “I was just about to resort to trial and error, which I’m sure the central city folks wouldn’t allow a simple dismissal on.”

Since she was in the area, she decided to visit Noel and see if he was doing better. He was officially a professor at the university, but he rarely taught classes since his specialties weren’t of much interest to students and weren’t required subjects. After poking around a few areas of the building he might be in (other labs, cafeteria, library), she instead went back into Giveway town and went to his home. He lived on the ground floor of a student and staff apartment, even if he was often away to the outer ring of Energy Nede that had been allowed to grow wild.

He was just coming out of the apartment, luckily. “Oh, good afternoon Noel!” she called. “How’s it going?”

“Better,” he said, pausing with his hand on the doorknob. Then he muttered, “I can never get used to not locking… what are you doing around here?”

She shrugged. “You know, the usual.”

“Bugging people until they agree to be interviewed?” he asked.

“Just about,” she said. “I went to talk with one of the other professors. Well it’s good to hear you’re doing better. What are you doing today?”

He shrugged and started walking to the teleport station. “Probably nothing of interest to you. Fienel’s tower manager asked me to come investigate the birds and animals around there. Apparently they’ve been moving in droves; like they’re trying to find somewhere to hide but keep changing their minds, he said.”

“It’s probably related to my main assignments, to find information on the Ten Wise Men,” although her editor expected the usual rehashed statements, not this uncovered secrets from Reyfus, “and on being the Expel Chronicler.”

“That position must be depressing lately,” Noel said. “All right, come along.”

“Thanks!”


	32. Beached

-Elurian coast, Ashton

_GET UP WE’RE SURROUNDED BY STINKING WATER AND IT’S HORRIBLE!_

_Sheesh, Gyoro, you’re gonna deafen him._

_I can’t deafen him from inside his head._

_Or maybe you will inside his head… ooo, that doesn’t sound nice._

“Don’t yell,” Ashton mumbled, his mind a haze and his ears feeling stuffy and ringing. He felt soaked, unusual because his armor coat usually repelled water. Unless he’d actually been in the water for a while… oh right, he had been after the ship had been torn apart and everyone fell into the ocean water. That explained the salty tang to the air.

“Are you awake?” a girl’s voice said. She seemed familiar, but he couldn’t quite place the voice. “That’s good, I wasn’t sure what to do about you.”

“Sort of?” he said, opening his eyes and sitting up. Other than being wet and achy, he didn’t feel too bad compared to what had happened. The other shipwreck had hurt a lot more. Now… he was still on the ocean, just on a floating chunk of wooden floor. The makeshift raft bobbed in the ocean waves and the breeze was biting. In the distance, he could see a beach.

And on the raft with him was Precis with part of a wooden board in hand. She had her backpack as usual, but she didn’t seem as happy and energetic as usual. Which was enough to make her sound different, with her voice more mellow than usual. But she did smile. “Sort of is better than not. We’ve gotten into quite a mess now. I tried yelling for the others, but I could only get you on here.” She pouted and dipped the plank in the water like a paddle. “I couldn’t even find Bobot. I hope he didn’t fall straight to the bottom; since the stream in town… Linga’s not very deep, I never tried tossing him in deep water to see what would happen. Or salt water. Salt water’s usually bad for metal objects like him.”

Gyoro grumbled by Ashton’s ear. _Don’t ask me to sniff them out. I got water in my face and I feel horrible._

_I dunno where everyone else is either,_ Ururun said.

“Well if we found debris to cling too, maybe the others did too,” Ashton said. “Can’t give up on them just yet. We might find them when we land on the beach.”

“I’ve been working on it, but I don’t think I’m very good at paddling,” Precis said. “The waves are taking us there just the same and sometimes I make it all spin around instead.”

“Is there another piece around?” Ashton asked, glancing around. There was one; smaller, but it might still work. “It might help to have two rowing. Of course, this isn’t that great even for a raft.”

“Well it floats and that’s what matters,” Precis said, seeming a little cheered up. They were able to close the distance a little faster with paddling. Once they were close enough, Ashton ignored Gyoro’s protest and jumped into the water to pull the raft in closer to where Precis could get off easier.

There was a plume of smoke in the distance, on the beach. Evidence of other people or something the devils had done? But from the narrowness of it, it seemed more likely to be the former. The two of them walked across the beach, strewn with debris from shipwrecks old and new. There was even a skeleton picked clean and starting to pale from the light and salt water. Thankfully, there was no heraldic spark to it that made it rise up and attack.

Before long, they recognized the people around the beach campfire. “All right, that looks like about all of us!” Precis said excitedly before cupping her hands over her mouth. “HEEEEY YOOOUUUU GUYS! GOT ANY FOOD?” Ashton laughed and ran after her when she bolted for the campfire.

“As long as you don’t mind fish and seaweed!” Rena shouted to them. “Is Claude or Leon with you two?”

“No, we haven’t seen them,” Ashton called. Not quite all together. But Claude was a tough guy; he might know how to swim and be able to get over here as long as the accident didn’t knock him out like it had Ashton. Leon, though… if his feline characteristics included hating water, then he was probably lost.

They had gotten close enough to speak normally now. Dias was fishing with a line and pole that seemed put together on the spot from the wreckage. But from the couple of edible fish roasting by the fire now, it was working. And tending to the fire was a small spherical metal thing. “Aaaah, Bobot, here you are!” Prescis squealed, since he’d been out of sight previously. “I was so worried about you.”

Bobot squealed and gave up his task to run over and hold its stubby arms up to her. She picked it up and gave it a hug. “There was a cliff near where we landed,” Ashton said, looking around. “But this place… if it’s where I think it is, the beach goes further around this bay, and there’s a secondary beach on the other side of the cliff. They might be around at the edges of the bay if they drifted this way as well.”

“I hope so,” Rena said, concerned. At her neck, her pendant was shimmering faintly. “Fortunately, the fish around here are ones I recognize, at least what Dias’ has caught so far. They’re just about done, if you want to get one before looking around.”

“Did you land around here?” Ashton asked. When she nodded, he said, “I can wait until you catch some more; I’ll scout down that part of the beach a little ways. Precis, you can make sure this area is safe?” She wasn’t trained as much as himself or Dias, but Dias was fishing and her punching arm was pretty strong. Plus, the fire might keep most monsters away…. Except the fire ones.

“Sure thing, we’ll be just fine,” Precis said, bouncing back into her normal self. That was good. Ashton nodded and started jogging down the beach. At the very least, it could help dry him out.

He’d been knocked out, so they could have drifted anywhere. But, he knew this was Eluria. Further down the bay, he could see a lighthouse that had once stood near the port town that most often traded with Lacour. It was daytime, but he doubted it would turn on at night. If there was no one there to activate it, there was no turning it on. And if they climbed up past the beach, he was pretty sure they could see the tower that had been erected in the ruins of the castle.

It was disorienting to look up at the sky, though. Shimmers in the air made it seem as full of waves as the ocean waters in the bay. Plus there was that huge pink smear giving the air a reddish tinge, touching the eastern horizon and spreading nearly to the sky’s center. The bay was darker in color than usual too, making this seem nothing like his homeland. But the lighthouse was distinctive. This was Eluria.

_This light is too weird, even for daylight,_ Ururun said.

After about twenty minutes, Ashton considered turning back when he spotted something in the distance. It had the shape of the person, but the unusual light of this day made it uncertain at this distance. Maybe it was a monster. Still, he continued on until he was certain. It was Claude, sitting on the sand just past the tide line. “Hey Claude!”

He turned and waved, but didn’t get up. “Hey Ashton! You see anyone else?”

“Yeah, Rena and Dias landed a ways down the beach, and Precis and I landed much further away. They’re all right. Have you seen Leon or anyone else from the ships?”

“I’ve got Leon here, but he hasn’t woken up yet,” Claude called back.

Ashton hurried over and saw that Claude was sitting near Leon. Claude didn’t seem injured, although he was just as soaked and worn out; they must have gotten out not that long ago. Oddly enough, his face seemed dry. On the sand, the boy was out cold. Soaked as well, but also except for his face. “He seems to be breathing at least.”

_I don’t smell death around him either,_ Gyoro said. _But his mind’s not all there._

Claude nodded, not having heard the dragon of course. “Yeah. I was near him when the ship went down, so I managed to grab him after I got separated from Rena. But it was the strangest thing; the water sort of warped around us, like it was holding onto us but allowing us to breath. Maybe he did something, but he was already unconscious, or in some trance, I don’t know.” He coughed and seemed out of breath.

“Did you swim over here with him?” Ashton asked.

He nodded again. “Yeah… the water tried to pull us down, but I managed to move the warped space towards shore. Still, a near miracle I found the shore. Couldn’t see anything but water and sky for a long time. Not sure what happened…”

“What about Shin?” When he looked blank, he added, “The purple skinned devil. I saw him fly down, but was dealing with one of the smaller gargoyles.”

“I think I killed him,” Claude said. “Thought I’d… have to put extra effort to break his shield. Since it stopped the cannon. But then I nearly cut him in two.”

_Kid smells a lot like water,_ Ururun said.

“I’m sure we all smell like the water,” Ashton said, looking over at the lavender dragon’s head. “Not just him.”

Ururun shook his head. _No, no, I mean he really smells like water._

_His spirit shifted entirely over to water, ick,_ Gyoro said. _Don’t hardly smell human on him. Or cat, he usually smells a bit like cat. Don’t mind eating dogs, but cats and their fur, ugh._

Ashton sat down on Leon’s other side. “Weird. The dragons are saying his spirit has shifted over to match that of water.”

“That good or bad?” Claude asked, looking down at him.

_Dunno,_ Gyoro said. _I’d say bad, but I hate water._

_Hey, I wonder if I can pull him out?_ Ururun leaned over and had to extend his neck to get down to sniff him up close. _I’ve gotten used to having a third mind added to our thoughts with you, so I can see his mind in all that water. Can I try?_

“Try not to hurt him, but give it a shot,” Ashton said. He glanced over at Claude, “Ururun thinks he can fix this.”

“Good luck,” Claude said.

_Yay, thanks!_ Ashton could then feel the dragon’s conscious seem to reach out into Leon’s mind. It was a bit like how he targeted for Leaf Slash, only held longer than he normally did. For a moment, he could imagine an ocean, and Leon somewhere in a bubble within it. The boy seemed stunned even here, but that must have made it easier for Ururun to get a hold of him and drag him out of that weird dream. _Oh wow, it was like the whole ocean was in his mind!_

_Don’t be stupid,_ Gyoro said, nipping at him. _Humans can’t hold a whole ocean inside them._

“It felt like the whole ocean,” Ashton said.

Leon mumbled briefly, but he wasn't entirely alert yet. Since Claude was worn out, Ashton picked Leon up to carry him back to the campfire while Claude walked. Fortunately the beach remained quiet. Claude didn't want to talk; he'd probably just want to eat and rest once they got to the fire. After some time, Leon murmured, “What're you?”

_It's me!_ Ururun cooed, leaning closer to the boy's face.

“Aack,” Leon said, leaning back, then having to grab Ashton's coat before he fell out of his arms.

“Careful there,” Ashton said. “You’re not a little kid.”

Leon looked over at him, puzzled. “Huh? What?” He looked over at Claude, then the beach. “Uh... would you put me down, please?”

“You feel like you can walk?” Ashton asked. When he nodded, he set Leon down (and quietly thankful for it because he was quite a weight to be carrying around). “Hang onto one of us if you need to.”

“Um, sure,” Leon said.

“You okay now?” Claude asked.

“I guess?” he said, taking Ashton's hand. “It’s kind of weird being back, um...” he started blushing.

“I’m not sure where we are,” Claude said. “Maybe Eluria?”

“We are,” Leon said, but before Ashton could say so.

Ururun then poked Ashton's head. _Hey, hey, ask him if he really did have the whole ocean in his mind._

“Okay,” Ashton said to the dragon. “You're right, I recognize a lighthouse back there. Anyhow, Ururun connected to you to get you out of that weird sleep you were in. He said it seemed like you had the whole ocean in your mind.” He shrugged. “I saw a bit of it, I think; at least I was thinking of oceans.”

Leon's ears pricked up. “Oh, really? Um... well it's weird, but the past few days, I’ve been hearing water really well. Like, I know stuff you shouldn't be able to know just by hearing to it, like all the tidal flows and what's in and around the water. That's how I knew where we were. But there so much to the ocean. It doesn't really think, but it was like I was hearing the thoughts of something far greater than me and I was totally lost, just listening to it.”

“I haven't heard of anything like that,” Ashton said.

“Me either,” Claude said.

_But it's totally true!_ Ururun said. _It was like talking to him without talking, or maybe he was really in tune with it, but it's real._

“Ururun said that's real, though,” Ashton said, considering it. “That would be really overwhelming, knowing all that the ocean does and touches.”

“Why can I hear it?” Leon asked. “That, it's not normal. I mean, I always heard magic more than saw it like most people, but not like this. Like I can see things that the water has touched.”

_I don't know that,_ Ururun said.

_We can hear the earth sometimes, usually when we're hungry looking for rocks and dirt to eat_ , Gyoro said. _But it's not like hearing hearing, more of a feeling. Sheesh, don't ask me to explain it; I’m no orator._

“They don't really know, but they have a sense for the earth,” Ashton said. “Maybe it's something like that. Sounds like a really unusual blessing.”

“Uh, but it sounds kind of crazy to be hearing things that shouldn’t speak,” Leon said, ears twisted down and his tail twitching under his coat. “Not a great blessing.”

The walk back took long enough that the sun started to set, and Bobot came running along the sand looking for them. But Dias and Rena had plenty of fish and seaweed done on their return, so they were able to get a decent meal before figuring out how to set up a camp site. Since there were no clouds in the sky and was fairly warm, it seemed safe enough to sleep on the sand above the tide line where they had the fire going. Once he had a few bites to eat, Ashton left the camp again to fetch some pieces of sail he'd seen; it probably be better to sleep on those rather than just on the sand itself.

But as he was getting back, he saw something flying through the air. It was the strangest thing, because it looked as though it was made of metal and glass, with the setting sun putting an orange gleam all over it. Some kind of light rippled along the bottom of it, much like the aurora was rippling in the sky overhead. The shape of it made him think of a boat, but cylindrical and sliding smoothly through the air. _Or a big metal dragon without head, wings, tail, legs, that sounds bad._

Ashton hurried back to the campsite, starting to feel worn down from this crazy day but this could be trouble. “Hey, something's coming this way!” he shouted to the others, in case they hadn't seen it due to the land's rise.

“What is?” Rena called back, but then the metal thing was right over the beach.

“What kind of devilry is that?” Dias asked, putting a hand on his sword.

“Hang on, that's...” Claude hesitated, seeming to recognize it. “It might not be trouble... they're being pretty daring, though.”

“What is it?” Rena asked as Ashton got over to them. The metal object landed on the ground; it was probably about the same size as a moderate merchant's vessel, making it even stranger to be flying around.

“Is that a machine?” Precis asked, sounding excited.

The object, maybe a machine, quieted down and part of it cracked open. Not entirely; there was muffled grumbling behind it before something hit the other side and forced it to open up fully. “Ern, we seriously need to fix this door if this all works out,” Opera called into the thing before stepping out onto the sand. “Hey guys! What happen to you all, rough day?”

“Yeah, the ships we were taking all got obliterated by the forces here,” Claude said, probably the only one of them who wasn't stunned by the sight. “And what are you doing flying this ship around?”

“It’s a bit late to be worrying about normal protocol,” Opera said.

“Oh my gosh, is that really a flying machine?!” Precis squealed in excitement, jumping over to Opera. “That is soo cool! But where's the wings and stuff? Something's got to keep it aloft.”

She laughed as Ernest walked out of the apparent flying machine. “It’s really complicated,” he said. “And you'd better listen to us explain before you go poking around it, all right?”

“I thought you two were leaving,” Claude said. “But yeah, join us around the campfire if you want. I think there's still some more fish around.”

“Yeah, there's complications and we couldn't,” Opera said. “Fortunately we talked to the Calnus before trying. Oh, but getting a bite to eat would be nice while we explain about this to the rest.”

The pieces of sail Ashton had weren't safe enough to put by the fire, so he set them in a pile nearby while they used large pieces of driftwood to sit around the fire and talk. Ernest started things off. “Well we've been telling you guys that we're from a land far away where ships haven't yet reached, me, her, and Claude. It's true, but it's also a massive understatement. You know the stars up above us?” He pointed up at the sky.

“The shooting ones or the still ones?” Ashton asked. Because yet again, there were many streaks of light flying through the aurora tonight. The sky was very active now.

“The still ones,” Ernest said. “Those stars, for the most part, are actually exactly the same thing as the sun in the sky. But they're much further away. Distant objects appear smaller than closer ones, right?”

“Oh yeah, but then those star suns have got to be way far away,” Precis said. “Like unimaginable miles long away!”

“That’s about right,” Opera said.

Ernest nodded. “And some of those stars have worlds just like this one, yet very different, with different lands and different peoples. Some are more primitive than Expel, where the people there have barely discovered how to tame fire like this. And some are far more advanced, with things you can only dream of here. We're from some of those advanced worlds around the stars far away.”

“Two different ones actually, since Claude's from Earth and we're from Tetragenes,” Opera said.

“Oh, you're from past the sky like that thing that crashed outside Linga Sanctuary?” Precis asked. “That’s awesome! I knew there were amazing people out there.”

“How do you get from one star to another if they're unimaginably far apart?” Ashton asked. “And isn't it all air past the sky? Or nothing, never thought of that before.” Because air got thinner as you went up, right?

“Well,” Ernest said, thinking of how to explain it.

“You need really fast ships, like this one,” Opera said. “It’s not quite so fast down here since there's more resistance. And, this is actually on the small side. Trouble is, with how crazy the sky is right now, we can’t actually leave this planet safely. So we decided to take a look at the Sorcery Globe ourselves and, well, we need to act fast. I think we have a few hours in which you guys can rest; seems like you need it. But we need to get to the top of that tower fast.”

“It’s about four or five days travel on foot to reach the capitol from here,” Ashton said. “Mostly because the forest isn't easy to get through.”

Ernest pointed back to their ship. “We take this and get there in a few minutes, don't worry.”

“Why didn't you tell us about this before?” Dias asked.

“Would you have believed us without seeing their ship?” Claude asked.

“Probably not,” he admitted.

“There's also some laws of our worlds that we usually have to follow,” Ernest said. “We're not supposed to interfere with worlds that don't have a certain level of knowledge. In most cases, we'd rather see you come up with your own ways of learning and doing, and once you managed to get off your own world, we'd make contact then. But, the Sorcery Globe changes that. It's also from an advanced civilization and it's working to influence and ruin your world.”

“We'll probably ask you all to keep quiet about it when it's all over,” Opera said. “Just because we'd have to go through our rulers and such to let them know what happened and figure out what should be done before letting knowledge of other worlds get out far. But we trust you guys.”

There were some spots to sleep inside the ship, so Leon was soon taken inside since he was nodding off during their explanation. Ashton thought Claude might go inside too, but then he walked off with Rena a short ways to talk on the sails, just out of hearing of the rest. It didn't seem like something to interrupt, so he decided to try sleeping inside the ship as well, in the room Leon was in since that seemed to be the guys' room. There would surely be a confrontation in the tower where the devils resided. Where he had once lived... no, try not to think about that now. The old Eluria was completely gone.

It was one of the stranger spots he'd slept in, like a bunk bed but instead of one mattress hanging above another, it was slots within the wall. Gyoro and Ururun seemed to like it, the latter mentioning that it was snug like a cave in their old body. All around him, there were walls that seemed unnaturally smooth and even, brown with little speckles all over it but not rough to the touch at all. That mattress was equally smooth, but comfortable once he got used to it; it came with a pillow and a blanket if he wanted. There were a few buttons around as well, with bare bones pictures close by.

Although he wasn't sure if he should mess with them, since this was an advanced machine when he hardly understood the machines Precis had... one seemed like a curtain, so he pressed it. It made the wall alongside the bed turn into a window, looking down the beach and the swiftly growing evening. That was nice. One picture kind of looked like those rolling doors they had on warehouses, but this wasn't nearly big enough. Or so he thought, since once he pressed it, a metal curtain closed off the bunk from the rest of the ship. That was claustrophobic even with the window showing outside, so he pressed it again to make it lift back up.

The third... he wasn't sure. It seemed kind of like a light? Ashton pushed that one and a square of the wall above him regressed. And, a bright light poured right out of it and across his face. Although as soon as he winced, it quickly softened in intensity until it was more comfortable. Odd. This bunk was a bit small to be doing anything in; he didn't think he could even sit up in it. He turned the light off and once again the wall was smooth.

That was enough for the night. He briefly heard Opera and Precis talking about the ship, but it was muffled soon as they walked around. They were from lands far enough away that the tiny stars became suns? That was incredible, nearly unbelievable. Yet, this ship was evidence of what they said, and he had known Opera and Claude long enough to trust them. Just how different were those worlds from his own?

He soon drifted off into sleep thinking of that.


	33. The Sorcery Globe

-Energy Nede, Fienel Tower, Chisato

The Fienel Tower manager met them at the teleporter station inside the building. “Thanks for coming so promptly, Professor Chandler,” the manager said.

“Hmm, yes,” Noel said, his ears pricking forward as something caught his attention more than the manager.

“I’m sure it’s no trouble to him,” Chisato said. “Hope you don’t mind me; I’m his friend, Chisato.”

“Sure, I don’t know if you’ll need help for this or not,” the manager said, waving his hand to the door. “Come on, if we go outside, you’ll see what’s going on.”

“It better not be,” Noel mumbled, so Chisato nudged him into following.

As she went along, she asked for him, “So your animals and such are acting all flustered, huh? They’ve been weird in the Outer Wall Paradise too.”

“As I heard it, they were being uncommonly violent there,” the manager said. “These ones seem afraid, but we’re not sure what of. Nothing major has been changed in recent weeks and I haven’t been able to determine the difference. That’s why I was hoping our expert could tell.” He brought them out the main doors and across the drawbridge.

This brought them to Fienel Plaza, a paved area where formal flower gardens made an elegant park. Past the paved areas, the structure was surrounded by a prairie of tall grasses and flowers. As they walked, two flocks of birds flew in opposite directions as hurriedly as they could. But like the manager said, there didn’t seem to be anything around that would scare them. They’d all lived here with the huge artistic tower and so they should be used to its flashing glass orbs and unusual structures.

“It’s starting to unnerve the workers and residents here as well, but no one’s sure why,” the manager said.

“You can’t feel that heavy murderous intent in the air?” Noel asked, looking up at the sky.

“Uh, no,” the manager said, paling.

“Are the Ten Wise Men reaching through here too?” Chisato said, looking up. There was a shadow across the whole sky now, making things dark even though the artificial sun was overhead.

“We’ve run out of time,” Noel said. “Expel is going to die and they’re planning on teleporting right here just before it does. This place is going to be saturated with the extinction of a whole world in about fifteen minutes.” He turned to the manager. “You should evacuate as best you can, and call the NDF.”

“Y-yes, I’ll go send the evacuation orders immediately,” the manager said, running back to the building.

“I’ll call the NDF!” Chisato yelled after him, then pulled her phone out of her bag. “Narl is seriously going to have to explain himself,” she muttered as she dialed the number of the force’s leader, Marianna. It seemed quicker to get through to her than calling the official line.

“Is this ever going to end?” Noel asked, looking back to the sky regretfully.

* * *

 

-Expel, Eluria continent, Dias

There was a lot of information to digest that night. Different worlds, different levels of knowledge, the Sorcery Globe somehow being an even greater threat because it made these advanced people stay to help… not to mention what they were doing on Expel in the first place. He could understand Claude being here on accident, but why would you choose to be around a lesser civilization? Ernest said something about the thrill of discovery and exploration. Maybe, it was more interesting to explore new lands, if more dangerous because one didn’t know about what was around.

One thing that he did understand was that the sooner this was all settled, the sooner things would go back to normal all around Expel. For that, he didn’t mind keeping secrets about other worlds. Or riding in this machine-object that didn’t seem like it should be capable of flight. “Things are rough, so you might want to strap yourself in with those belts,” Ernest said, sitting in a single seat at the front of this cabin. A whole array of range gauges, lights, switches, dials, and things he wasn’t even sure what to call were spread out in front of him, their pilot. In the other single seat, Precis was eagerly watching what he did; she’d been made to promise not to do anything in the ship with its machinery unless asked to.

The rest of them sat on a pair of long benches around the edges of the cabin. Opera fiddled with one of the extending straps in the seats to show them the belts. But then, a slot opened up on the wall near her and spit out a bundle of papers. “Oh, here’s the printed paper of the scans we got,” she said, passing the papers to Leon. “We would like you to come along, since you’ve probably got the best heraldry knowledge out of all of us. But you can stay in the ship until we’re sure it’s safe.”

“Sure, I don’t mind,” Leon said, then frowned at the paper.

“Sorry, I have to translate the writing for you,” she said, then started explaining symbols to him.

“What could you figure out from the ship’s readings?” Claude asked, not bothering to strap himself in. Probably used to this. Dias figured he could handle it too; it shouldn’t be any worse than the sailing ships.

“It’s manipulating the force of gravity directly,” Ernest said. “We managed to collaborate some information from the Calnus before communications cut out entirely. From that, it would seem that the Sorcery Globe is one end of a bond between Expel and that astral body.”

“What body?” Precis asked.

“You mean that huge pink thing in the sky?” Ashton asked.

Ernest nodded. “That’s right. Trouble is, Calnus is a more advanced ship as we said yesterday; it’s made to study unknown things and it can’t figure out what’s so special about this one. They said it was like a dying star’s explosion or a new star’s gathering, but frozen in time. In that kind of setting, nothing should be capable of living, especially not of the intelligence to be making a gravitational bond like this.” He paused in his work to rub his head. “I hope that got through the translator all right. I seem to be working mine hard explaining this.”

“We’ve got something invisible and intangible tying our world to that thing in the sky but there shouldn’t be anyone smart enough in that strange star to do that, right?” Dias said.

“That’s the basic idea,” Ernest said. “Whoever’s in control of the Sorcery Globe has, for some reason, been rapidly decreasing the length in that bond, bringing them together far too fast. Sometimes it’s a slow and steady pull, other times it’s a dramatic decreasing. And if these two end up crashing into each other, the collision will end up destroying both most likely. However, we believe that if we can gain control over the Sorcery Globe, it should be possible to use the bond to push Expel and the star apart to a safe distance. It’s still going to make things down here unsettled for a long time, but the alternative is everyone dying.”

“I thought the world was too strong to be destroyed like that,” Ashton said, fiddling with his fingers nervously.

“But the star’s got to be just as enormous and just as strong too,” Precis said. “So it’d be something like hurling two bowling balls at each other as hard as you can throw ‘em and they go bang! Break into lots of pieces or at least some huge cracks that keep them from rolling anymore.”

“That’s an apt comparison,” Ernest said. “That’s the plan for now, but I’m sure there’ll be someone operating the Sorcery Globe. Ready to go?”

“Let’s get this over with,” Dias said.

“Right, what he said,” Precis added.

“Seems like our best shot, so let’s go,” Claude said, nodding.

“All right, then hang onto your seats,” Ernest said, pulling a lever that put the ship into activity.

There were large rectangular windows around the cabin, allowing them to see as the ship lifted off the beach. The tides were high this morning, with the aurora so strong that they could see its colors through the sunlight. And very early in the morning, that strange star gave the dawn instead of the sun. It was the strongest light now, turning the whole sky pink and violet, reflected on the ocean in a surreal vision. The ship easily rose off the ground, a little shaky inside. Once it was higher than the trees nearby, Ernest steered them towards the immense tower in the distance.

Dias had seen some horse races, but this craft was going far faster than any horse could. The Elurian countryside seem to fly right by the windows. As they crossed the forest that Ashton said took a while to get through, they had a couple of minutes to look down at the rippling waves of green leaves before it was gone. The whole trip took only a few minutes, nearly as much as a fast runner could take a mile.

As for the tower itself, it looked like nothing like what anyone on Expel could build. There was a huge metal drawbridge crossing the crater from the initial impact, which looked like it was held up by little more than thin ropes. No, metal ropes; he could see that they had the same reddish look and texture as the bridge. Past that, there was a tower taller than any of the trees in the Elurian forests, probably three times the height of the tallest building he’d seen (one of Cross’ castle towers). It looked most like a series of blocks that were stacked crookedly, with corners and extensions hanging out impossibly into the air. At the top of the tower was the Sorcery Globe itself, a huge orb that definitely looked like no meteorite he’d ever seen. There was an outer shell, but it was all broken up and seemingly connected to the inner core by lightning that constantly flowed from the blue stone inside. It floated unnervingly on top of a flower-shaped platform, with the outer edges of its petals curled up. Down at ground level, the drawbridge was lying open as if in welcome to this strange place.

But Ernest drove the ship into the open space below the huge flower, where it stood on spindles of pillars. This landing put them on an empty circular platform, with a staircase hugging the edge of it. Not even bothering to turn his machine off, Ernest got out of his seat. “All right, time to rock.”

“Do what?” Precis asked, getting up as well.

Ernest laughed. “Just forget it, come on.”

Dias had picked a spot at the back of the cabin, so he and Claude were the first ones at the door. They came out to find the platform starting to shudder. By the time Ashton and Rena (her pendant shining bright silver now) got out as well, the platform lifted up onto the flower platform. Precis and Opera followed them out, while Ernest stayed back at the doorway with Leon. Probably a good idea, make sure the kid was protected. Not just because he was a kid, but because between him and the off-worlders, they might gain control over the Sorcery Globe.

Upon stopping on the floor above, they found that the Sorcery Globe was truly suspended on nothing, hanging overhead on its own power. They weren’t alone, outnumbered eight to eleven. Their opponents were nearly all men (just one woman, a girl in a rainbow dress with white feathered wings; Dias figured she must be fake, since no angel would go along with these freaks). They all looked like powerful opponents, either in might or magic. Across from the ship’s exit, there was one man who didn’t seem to be paying attention to the intruders; he must have been that regal man Ashton had mentioned in his story. He didn’t look all that strong, especially compared to some of the hugely muscled fighters in the group, yet he still managed to radiate a sense of power. If anything, Dias wouldn’t be surprised to find that he was the strongest and most dangerous of the lot.

The first thing that was said between them was when the one engulfed in the green cloak commented, “You owe me,” causing the purple haired fighter by him to curse.

One of them, a white haired man in a black armored overcoat, laughed at that. “You should have known better,” he said, then looked over them like this was funny. “Welcome, worms, so good to see that some of you made it up here. Even if you cheated with the help of these off-worlders, it’s still not going to help you.”

“Don’t be so sure of that,” Dias said. It might be more bravado than anything, he admitted to himself. This was going to be a rough battle. But, they had Rena’s miraculous power on their side, and whatever else the off-worlders might be hiding up their sleeves. Even if there wasn’t a chance, they were still going to try.

“Right, we’ve come here to put a stop to your destructive plans,” Claude said. At that moment, faced with a foe they didn’t know much about and with that shining sword at his side, he really did seem like the legendary Warrior. Maybe he was, brought here for this moment rather than by accident.

That didn’t impress this crowd. “Unfortunately, you’re way too late to do anything about it,” the white haired one said. “And you’ve been the ones to bring that destruction about much faster. Ha ha, it was something we didn’t even account for, but thanks for the gift. We…”

“Cyril,” their red-haired king said sharply, finally turning from whatever work he was doing. On his chest, there was a familiar silver shine. Like Rena’s pendant? That was strange.

“They really should know what’s happened,” Cyril protested.

“There’s only three minutes until this world ceases to be,” he replied. “Cut to the chase. Nicolus, Jibril, you’re going in the tower with me. The rest of you stay outside to deal with the coming resistance.”

Three minutes? Dias grimaced, but just beyond the tower, there was a roar coming from the sky itself. It was entirely red and pink above them; fire began to fall instead of rain and the tower they were on trembled. For a moment, he considered trying to rush an attack. But the air was growing heavy and hot, resisting any attempt to move.

“Yes sir,” the two named, an old man and the one engulfed in his cloak, answered.

“Dammit, not even a spare minute for drama?” Cyril asked, shaking his head. “Fine. Look, we’re known as the Ten Wise Men. We’ve slaughtered entire armies made up of worms far more badass than you, so we only spared you so far out of respect for getting here. We were supposed to spend a century here, having some fun in taking over your piddling landscape. But what do you know, the girl there happens to have the heraldic key to resonate with the one we made to control the object you call the Sorcery Globe. The closer you came to here, or to the energy stone they’re made of, the quicker everything came together. Even faster than we accounted for, which is a terrible pity, but thanks for the assistance.”

“We need to leave,” their king said, raising his hand. Then there was a bright flash of light and fire seemed to be consuming everything.

* * *

 

SYSTEM ALERT: The Eternal Sphere will be shut down immediately for an official company investigation into the destruction of the planet Expel on the Milky Way Galaxy server. All access to the game will be forbidden for the duration of the investigation. Time on all game servers will be suspended so that accounts and characters will pick up where left off when access is allowed.

Our condolences and sympathy go out to all those who had characters on Expel.

* * *

 

-message board, Dano

Topic: Who Did You Lose On Expel?

Original Post (Meena): Whhhhhhyyyyy did it have to go like that? (sad face) Aw man, there was fire everywhere and shaking, and then it was all gone before I knew it…

Reply #5 (Meena): And I had Maria, a farmer’s wife. Such a quiet life, but it was so nice and relaxing. Well okay, there was lots of work she had to do, but it was really rewarding (especially when the kids did funny things). A while back, I wanted to try farming here, but there was all those restrictions about where you could plant things (and I’d have to move too) and the seed source site is one of those where you can’t get more than basics unless you’ve been enrolled for a while and earned enough points to get them. Maybe I’ll look into that again, because now I’m not sure if I want to start up a new profile after losing her like that. That was so unfair. But then, I’m not sure much could have been done to stop it.

Reply #15 (Yule): I have had the worst luck with Expel! I heard it was a great place without a lot of competition from a big player crowd, and it did look really great. But I set up this great drama only for some random other player to take the prestige for winning it. Even before that, I was trying to get my guy Yul into a nice position as a navigator’s apprentice, making for a nice rags to riches story along with the revenge side of things. But the NPC I was trying to get as master seemed to arbitrarily pick another NPC over my character. I mean, what? My character should have been perfect for the position. I couldn’t make the romance I wanted to work either, and now some crazy random planetary collision ruins everything? Geez, aren’t they supposed to give us more time to pull together a team of heroes to save the world?

Despite that, I already miss the place. It was beautiful.

Reply #26 (Janet): I’m in tears, really. I’ve been playing on Expel since it opened up and recommended it to all my friends, from CJ to Nancy to Aliana. There weren’t any major draws like other planets have, but it was just wonderful how it was. There was so much you could do with that world! Have a peaceful life sim, have a world-trotting adventure, have a merchant rise from penniless to wealthy, have a life devoted just to magic research… it was all possible! And I’m sure it would have stayed that way as it developed.

I’ve played through over a dozen characters there; now there’s nothing but my memories and pictures of them. But as for who I lost upon destruction, I had June, a maid in Cross Castle who liked to gossip and watch auctions, as well as Yuki, a budding business girl who was selling jams and hoping to become a traveling musician.

Reply #32 (Norman): I was still constructing my first character on Expel when the game shut down. It looked like it had such promise. I’m just shocked at it, not sure how I feel. But my heart goes out to all of you who were playing on Expel. It’s just, unbelievable. Has there ever been a playable planet that was just destroyed so arbitrarily before?

 

It was depressing to read all of these stories about the destruction of Expel. Dano still was in a state of shock himself, just reading over these responses that were coming constantly. Did he want to post about Dias? But that would be admitting that it had happened to himself and he didn’t know if he could keep composed enough to write. He wasn’t sure if he’d collapse into tears or burst into fury, though. All those struggles that he’d worked Dias through, even losing his entire family and shutting his heart away from the world while perfecting his swordplay to avenge them. And then the moments lately where he seemed to finally be healing from that pain, opening up slowly to protect new friends and discovering the soothing quality of music. But then those last moments that snuffed out all the effort and progress that had been made, with that haughty Cyril telling them how they had brought this disaster upon them much too soon because they brought Rena with them instead of convincing her to stay in Arlia. Or even that one that barely acknowledged them to finish whatever cruel work he was doing. Why did Rena have that pendant? And why did it have to be the instrument of their doom?

Before he could fall into one or the other, another alert popped up on his game screen, this one being a private message from the investigation group board. He hadn’t even checked that one, as it was sure to be even more depressing than this main general board of the Eternal Sphere. The alert noted that it was from one of those on CJ’s list of players involved, so Dano shifted windows to open it.

It was from Enlo, with an attachment file and a curious request. ‘If you’ve gotten this message, we need to get together and talk face to face about Expel’s fate and how we might yet reverse it. Please come to my place, as it’s the most suitable for our meeting. It’s not in standard housing, so you must print out the attached pass in order to get access. When you get to the teleport station, give the pass to the attendant and have them swipe the code so they can send you to my location; make sure to get the pass back. You’ll exit from a station on the base floor of an office building for engineers, members of the judicial government, and various others. Exit through the main door and head straight to a road that leads to the reformations building, but stop at a maintenance sign and scan the pass again. That will summon a maintenance lift. The destination should say Sub-Building 820; if not, scan the pass there to get that location. That’s where I live. I’m planning the meeting in four hours from when I send this message. Please come. –Enlo’

Expel’s fate and how to reverse it… he wasn’t sure if he trusted Enlo entirely. He certainly knew a lot about the game. However, at times it was as if he knew too much, especially about ways to circumvent standard features and ‘detect’ cheating or hacking. It wouldn’t surprise Dano to learn that he was a hacker. But even if he was, he had to be aware of Dano’s stance on hacking or cheating from the group message board. It had been sent to all the other players in their group.

And if it took a hacker’s skill to save Expel from this fate, Dano was willing to listen to him at least. Maybe even let him do it. Maybe he could reset time and get Rena to stay in Arlia, so they had a better chance of stopping those Ten Wise Men.

“Do you need assistance with this tragic event?” his butler asked as he got out of his immersion chair. Probably going to offer drugs to mute his feelings or even a memory wipe of game events.

“No, I’ll handle it on my own,” Dano said, recalling CJ’s thoughts on these difficulties. “I’ve got a message open with a pass attached to it; get the pass printed up.”

“Right away,” the butler said, going motionless to communicate with the house systems.

He went to take a shower, both to clean up and get some time to think. Ten minutes to the meeting time, he looked over the pass as he was leaving his home. It looked like an authentic transport pass, enough so that his butler had taken the time to laminate it. Dano walked through his neighborhood and saw that there were a lot more people outside than usual. Well, the Eternal Sphere was down and that was what most people spent their time on. None of them seemed upset about the loss, although a few expressed frustration that they’d shut down the entire game for the loss of a single planet. The teleport station was quiet, as what loiterers would be there had gone into the neighborhood now that more people were out and about.

In his neighborhood, the station had been made to look like it was for a train: a nice architectural overhang even though though rain was controlled not to fall over certain areas, a pseudo-wood platform on both sides of a lower rail, some fancy benches, and even a neighborhood notice board. But no trains would come through here. Instead, there was a bridge between the platforms just past the attendant's booth. Panels on the sides, floor, and ceiling held the equipment for teleporting.

“Welcome, umm,” the attendant glanced at a screen to check his identity, “Dano. Don't see you out here often. Anything exciting going on?”

“I've got business to take care of,” he said, handing her the pass. “The location's on the code bar there.”

“Okay,” she said cheerily. Those who did manage to get employed were really cheerful, since they'd gotten lucky enough for the position, even a simple one like this. She swept the pass across the scanner. “Hmm, the justice sector. Hope it's a good thing! You're ready to go, so step on onto the platform bridge.”

“I’ll need the pass back,” he said to her.

“Oh, right, it does have the multiuse symbol,” she said, handing it over. Hopefully she was new to the job, because that was a dumb error to make. “Sorry.”

Once he had it, he walked over and waited on the transport. The justice sector... then the reformation building he mentioned must have been 4D's version of a prison. But it didn't make sense for him to be in the prison, since people there generally weren't allowed access to immersion games. After nearly a minute, the sides of the booth brightened and closed shut around him. It barely lasted five seconds before releasing him into a completely different station.

This one was clear to its purpose; the logo for the justice department was placed on a large black sign on the wall across from the station, next to the large open doors that led outside. The station was simple, being a corner of a large lobby made to look like it was decorated with marble (in gray or white) and black iron. Even the attendant was dressed in somber colors, as opposed to the bright colors of the neighborhood attendant. “Welcome to the justice sector,” he said in a voice that clearly had been doing this for a long time. “If you need assistance locating your destination, please take a guide key from the sign with the map to summon a guide robot.”

“I’ve got it handled, thanks,” Dano said, stepping out and heading for the doors.

The walkways here were made to look like brick, with trees in planters all along the streets in neat precise rows. It was early morning here, so the sky was bright and blue, not a cloud to be seen. As Dano made his way straight from the door and down the sets of stairs (probably put there more for looks than anything), he started to see the large grim looking building opposite it. The trees stopped partway down that road and the brick gave way to a bare concrete look. Its uninviting look was a message to those who saw it, a warning to not do anything that would lead one there.

But the sign for the maintenance lift was not far from the start of that street, where it was still nice and brick. Someone was already waiting there, a man with casual clothes that were usually favored by those in university or recently out of it, as well as a familiar style of black hair. Dano scanned his pass on the sign, causing the other man to smile nervously. “Oh, you've been invited to this meeting too? With Enlo?”

“Right,” he said. “I'm Dano and I'm guessing you're Ashe.”

He relaxed at that. “Yeah, that's me. A few friends of mine surprised me with a makeover to look more like him back when I was still taking classes, trying to cheer me up after the Sorcery Globe first landed,” then he frowned. “I hope that can still be reversed. I know we can't keep them safe from everything, but still, this is too much to just accept.”

“I can accept other deaths, but not this one,” Dano said, nodding in agreement.

Ashe brushed his hair out of his eyes. “Huh, you might not look much like Dias, but I can hear the resemblance when you talk.”

He shrugged. “I couldn't play a hyperactive character if I tried.” It did make Ashe laugh a little, but the situations wouldn't let such levity last long.

“Hey, is that Ashe over there?” a woman approaching them asked. She had bright orange-pink hair done in tight curls and her choice of style wasn't something Dano had seen around 4D, what few times he left his home. She wore a yellow top that was some kind of shawl and short jacket in one, and an orange skirt that went to her knees. “It's me, CJ.”

“Ah, yes, it's great to finally meet you in person!” Ashe said, delighted and accepting a hug from her. “Seems like I’ve known you forever online.”

She laughed warmly. “Yes, I reminded of times when I’ve gone to meet grandkids for the first time. It's lovely to see you. And you are?”

“Dano,” he said, offering her a handshake.

She gave him a hug anyhow. “Good to meet you too, always so nice to meet friends in person. I really need to do this more often, so it doesn't end up in a time like this.”

It was odd meeting people he'd known only online in person. Especially after he got used to being able to tell the general age of a person in a look in the game. Although he knew that Ashe was likely several decades younger than him and CJ was at least a couple centuries older, they all looked like they could be the same age physically. It was said to be one of the good things about their world as it was, but it still seemed odd.

Then CJ said something surprising. “You guys shouldn't worry about your characters. We can still save the world with them.”

“But they were in the middle of a planetary collision,” Ashe said, taken aback. “Nothing could have survived that.”

“Actually, they weren't there at that moment; you'll find out in a little bit. I know this for certain because my new character finally saw them in person shortly before the game cut off.”

The maintenance lift appeared soon after that, made to be elegant in appearance even though it was a device used by workers. As the message said, the lift did have Sub-Building 820 as a possible destination. However, CJ had to scan her pass before it accepted taking them all there. The lift descended and traveled underneath the main justice building where they had arrived. Much of the machinery that kept their world working was down here, hidden away where most people wouldn't see it.

Still, there was a single house down here, off on its own circular platform and also out of sight for nearly everyone. It was a good sized residence, but only a single pathway from the dock made up the exterior space. There, they saw a woman dressed in a business suit speaking on a personal communicator. “That’s what I've been telling all of you recently,” she said, glancing over. “Oh excuse me a sec.” She waved over to them. “Hi CJ; go on in, just tell Enlo this is going to take a little longer.”

“Sure thing,” she said, pressing the button to open the door. Once they were in the entrance hall, she said, “That’s Blair, one of the company workers, and the one I've been working with lately. I haven't been in here, though. Hello, Enlo? A few of us are here.”

A man with shaggy tan hair nearly covering his eyes came into view. “Oh good, come over here. I managed to get extra seating in time, so there should be plenty of space for everyone. And don't mind my butler's attitude.”

“I wasn't expecting someone to be living in a place like this, out of sight and on its own,” Ashe said, glancing around the living room they were entering.

Enlo shrugged as he stepped back to work on a computer display there. “Yeah but when you're the reincarnation of Lucifel, most people don't want you in their neighborhood.”


	34. Explanations and Plans

-4D, Penny

It had been a strange day. At the start of it, Penny and her parents had their usual breakfast together. They had talked about the Sorcery Globe mission, joking about how letting Dano be her guardian turned out unnecessary now that Jeb and Nancy both had characters on the adventure too. Although, she didn't mind it when it stayed that way, because Dano was really knowledgeable about the game, giving her some tips that even her parents hadn't come up with. It was all so happy and exciting, although it made Penny want to be able to go off on exploring adventures too (but there was nothing left to explore in 4D).

However, that happiness had died quickly when Expel died. It was a terrible shock; she had kept checking Tria to see if it was some mistake or prank, but it was real. There were always those warnings that anything could happen in the Eternal Sphere, good or bad. There were lots of other warnings too, but they seemed like unneeded worry as things went well most days. After Nancy started crying, Jeb said that they should set up something in memory of the lost characters.

But then they all got a message from Enlo, inviting them to his home. Apparently he had some plan to reverse Expel's destruction, which meant that their characters might not be lost after all. The fact that he didn't live in a standard housing area caused her parents some hesitation, but they decided to go to the meeting before long. After all, they had been working in the game to try and prevent this tragedy. No sense in leaving it be a tragedy if something might undo it.

Enlo’s house was a cool place, being in an unusual spot and then what was inside… he had all kinds of computers (together, apart, pieces, new, antique), tools, devices (three holographic generators, a custom drink station, parts of a vehicle, parts of a lift all in view of the living room, who knows what was out of sight), and books. He even did his interior decorating in a steampunk style with gears and steam driven devices. If it was any other time, she would have liked to ask about all of it.

There were things she couldn’t resist asking about. Like when Dano (who seemed rather different than Dias since he had brown hair and a beard) told them that Enlo had once been Lucifel. “I did a report about him! But how do you know something like that? You don’t remember past lives.”

“Right, but when you disrupt society that much, they keep it on your records if you do get restarted,” Enlo said. “They keep an eye on me. Even so, I managed to keep journals from life to life, so it usually doesn’t take me long to piece things back together. It helps now, although I’m also the reason this all happened in the first place.”

“If you didn’t keep those journals, we’d be even more at a loss,” Blair said, coming back inside.

“I’m surprised they let you get restarted,” Dano said.

“They watch those who raise former criminals to make sure they get raised to counter any trouble,” CJ said. “One of my kids was like that; she never caused problems in this lifetime. I’m sure it’s the same with him.”

Enlo smiled. “Yeah, when I figured this out in this lifetime, I congratulated my parents for doing well. How’d it go Blair?”

She shrugged as she fixed a drink at the drink station. “They really want me back in the building, but I got some time. We need to make sure we’re all on the same page. Ultimately, we want to reverse the destruction of Expel. Setting time back in the game won’t help much, since we’d need to set things back thirteen years to undo the series of events on Expel fully. And even then, it still leaves gaps for the disaster to take a different turn.”

“What happened thirteen years ago to start this?” Ashe asked. “I thought it started about a year ago to them when the Globe arrived.”

“It started thirteen years ago, but the actual start goes far back to the first space age play era,” she said. “Are all of you aware of the Nedian conflict then, when the Ten Wise Men were created?” It looked like they all did, fortunately. “Good, that cuts out on some explaining we need to do. The other astral body that has crashed into Expel is called Energy Nede. It's an artificial planetoid that the Nedians crafted after the galactic conflict in order to seal themselves off from the rest of the galaxy.”

“But a century before that point, there’s another event that relates to this,” Enlo said, turning to bring up some video from his display.

Blair nodded. “Yes, and it didn’t cause enough of a stir to be remembered outside the company and a few individuals interested in programming. One of the things the Nedians and their players did was start a heraldic weapons laboratory to research what they could do with their advanced skills. It eventually brought increases of their spaceship technology as well as what led to the Ten Wise Men. But at the end, it ended up destroying itself in its research. The last director Reema was researching methods of energy generation with magic and infinity machines.”

“Is this about Rena?” Ashe asked, which was strange. Until he explained, “I heard about someone named Reema from one of the Lacour devils, Shin. He said she was Rena’s mother and sent her far into the future, but we thought Shin was lying.”

“He wasn’t,” Blair said. “But that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Reema came up with an expansive crest that was supposed to use gravity magic on a generator to cause a self-continuing supply of energy. On checking her work, she discovered that there was a large chance that the crest would draw enough gravity into one location that the universe would rapidly contract until it destroyed itself. It was named the Crest of Annihilation and immediately forbidden save for the research lab, which was trying to find ways to make it work safely.

“Now the game is supposed to prevent such things as an artificially induced Big Crunch from being possible at all. However, her crest activated several parts of programming that weren’t meant to be put together. The gravity crest, if activated with sufficient energy, would start destroying portions of the Eternal Sphere’s code. Other parts would normally step in for redundancy and to hold status quo until we fixed it, but this particular glitch would end up destroying the redundancies too, and any other piece of programming that got activated in sequence. Basically, it’d turn anywhere from half to nearly all of the game coding into garbage that we would have to scrap entirely and start from scratch.”

“So either the artificially induced Big Crunch would destroy the Eternal Sphere or the hyper destructive glitch would,” Enlo said.

“But if you found that glitch before it happened, how does it affect what’s going on now?” Penny asked. Old glitches shouldn’t be a problem.

“The official records showed that it got patched,” Blair said. “I thought it had been. But then Enlo found that it was still in the game, attached to the crest that’s been named the Crest of Annihilation. Back in Reema’s day, the lab activated a small scale version when they thought the errors were fixed. It ended up destroying the lab, but they had enough time to reduce the damage outside the lab by routing the energy generated into shooting Rena far into the future. Before Reema did, she gave Rena the Quadratic Key pendant she had. That’s how she has it. And somehow, the design for the Crest of Annihilation ended up in the hands of Indelacio, the leader of the Ten Wise Men. That’s actually the biggest danger they present now, activating that crest.”

“Can you figure out how they got it?” CJ asked.

“Not without combing the really old records,” Enlo said. “Which will take up too much time. Right now, we need to focus on getting the Ten Wise Men eliminated and getting Expel back through continuing the game where it got froze.”

“But all our characters got killed with the rest of Expel,” Penny said. It was horrible, but she was trying to be tough and not start crying in front of all the adults.

“No, they’re still alive,” Enlo said, to all but Blair and CJ's surprise. “All of the ones who were on top of the Eluria tower were transported onto Energy Nede when the Ten Wise Men transported there with the Sorcery Globe. As well as the Lacour Hope, I’m not sure why they decided to take that too. At any rate, all we need to do to get back into them is get access into Energy Nede for all of us, before the time stop ends.”

“And prepare for a large battle, since we’ll be thrown into it,” Blair said.

“Energy Nede is where they’ve had me playing so they could look into it,” CJ explained. “But you don’t have a character there, at least I don’t think so.”

She grinned. “My moderator avatar was on Expel, actually. I’m just going to steal Leon since Enlo has two characters on Energy Nede now.”

“You’ll let me take Noel again?” Enlo asked, surprised.

“Sure, but you take over the rest of the explaining and make it good,” she said, apparently teasing him.

Enlo laughed. “All right, I’ll try not to be too technical.”

“So we get to revive the world as our characters!” Penny said, cheered by knowing that at least Precis and the others were still alive. And they'd make it so that Bowman, Nineh, and everyone else on Expel was saved too.

“Yes, just leave the technical side to Blair and myself, while you all continue on in game,” Enlo said, grinning. “But we thought you'd like to know what we're doing. Now, the most obvious hurdle in taking care of the Ten Wise Men is that they are ridiculously broken characters, even in the modern Eternal Sphere. They're the bosses that the company modeled the prestige boss additions on. If we count CJ's character Chisato on Energy Nede, and mine in Noel too, we have ten characters of varying skill levels against eleven prestige bosses. I'd rate most of them at the easiest one star level, but Decus and Vesper would be two stars if taken on their own, Cyril at three stars, and Indelacio at seven stars.”

“Why the huge jump from Cyril to Indelacio?” Jeb asked.

“I think I know,” Penny said, recalling her research. “They all had the Mana DNA glitch like all other Nedians, but Dr. Lantis shortcut the training by doing it virtually, so the others are not quite up to their fullest potential. Since he ended up putting himself in Indelacio, he had that training. Plus, he has no favored element so is unpredictable, he has the talent for casting while moving and levitation, he has quick casting on top of that, and he's far more strategic than any save maybe Cyril. So while the rest might fight wherever they happen to be, Cyril and Indelacio will engineer battles so that they will have favored terrain or conditions. Also, he is Lantis, so if you get rid of all the rest but can't take out Indelacio, he can potentially create new followers.”

Enlo clapped. “Good work, kid. That's most everything, although I would also mention that he has healing magic capabilities, but then nearly all of them do and the eleventh member in Filia is a dedicated battle healer so if she shows up with any of them, most likely Indelacio, then that battle will be even tougher. To be capable of taking them out, we need our characters to go through some rapid intense training and upgrade all of their equipment to as high of a tier as we can get. The only thing we have right now that really is capable is Claude's Eternal Sphere, and he can’t use it if he can't endure their attacks.”

“I'm not too comfortable with rapid training,” Dano said. “But since they've been thrown into this situation, that's the best we can do for them.”

“I can endorse a boost for them based on the adventure being on a legendary setting,” Blair said. “I'm sure no one will argue with that. Even so, that may not be enough since there's limits I have to adhere to.”

Enlo brought up an image of a strange building on a seven-sided island. “Fortunately, Energy Nede provides us with an ideal place for such training as long as all the characters survive the initial onslaught; I’m sure this first battle is going to be intense and stacked heavily against us since it's eight of the Ten Wise Men, including Filia, if they follow the orders Indelacio gave on the tower. This is the entrance to the Trial Caverns, which is where the training that made the Nedians so dangerous is held on Energy Nede. And with some modifications and nudging NPCs, getting properly equipped should occur along the way.”

“Would that make our characters imbalanced like the old Nedians?” CJ asked.

“Well they will be extremely powerful for the modern setting after this is all over,” Enlo admitted. “But I think it would be in-character enough for them to store the powerful equipment away once the powerful threat is gone. The main characters we should worry about becoming really imbalanced are Rena, Leon, and Noel. They're all mages and these trials are designed primarily for mages. Rena still has the Mana DNA Imprint trait, but her lack of scholarly magic training thus far will hinder her ultimately; I've already done some trimming on her potential spell list to counter this as well, although we'll have to see how long that stands.”

“And what of Leon and Noel?” Blair asked.

From the way Enlo rubbed his neck, it seemed like he might not have told Blair yet. “Well, they have the last new program I put into the Eternal Sphere. Early on in this lifetime, I was still too cocky so I tried to mimic the Mana DNA Imprint glitch with a Felpool, but in a way that still balanced itself so it was perceived as more fair. Those two are both legitimate characters, don't doubt that, but back in their family line, there is a hacked character who I put this program, Symbology Synethesthia, into. It makes them more attuned to mana passively than most modern mages can reach with active skills, but at the cost of potential mental instability because their mana sense is crossed with their hearing sense. They think they hear mana, but find the real voice of mana indistinguishable from their inner thoughts. While it does make them very potent mages, they require a lot of care and attention from a player to keep them sane. So I wasn't surprised to see Noel so depressed, between what happened to him in-game and me being cut off from him.”

“Well then I'd have to take Leon from you for a bit to research it anyhow,” Blair said. “Sounds like a potential challenge mode. So back to the trial?”

“What about it?” he asked. “Some of it is best explained in-game, and provided we all play well during the battle, it shouldn't be an issue to get permission from the NPC authorities to go through the trial.”

“What about getting Expel back?” Dano asked.

“The Nedians already have something they're working on, so I’ve been giving them small pieces of help to get it down quicker,” Enlo said. “They want to shift the space-time continuum to grab Expel before the collision and take it out to replace after the danger is over. It may cause some time confusion or even paradoxes on Expel, but it should be possible to do so without causing the game code to get glitched. The Eternal Sphere does allow for some time travel, after all, and this fits within the criteria of acceptance for the in-game guardian of time. Right now, one of their problems is the sheer amount of energy such a shift will require. But really, they can only put their energy towards that once the Ten Wise Men are defeated.”

“Could the current Nedians win against them?” Penny asked.

Enlo shook his head. “No. Isolation and locking down all progress seems to have made them deteriorate from what they were. A skilled player could make a powerful character out of one, but not on the level of the game breakers they once were. Plus, their knowledge and skill level seems to have come down too; I’m sure the old Nedians could have handled the plan much quicker.”

“Then it does seem to be up to our characters,” CJ said. “We’ll be their guardian angels and make sure they get through it.”

“Yes, that's exactly how things are,” Enlo said. “Now before I let you all go back to prepare for the battle once the game starts up again, Blair and I need to register all of you for access to Energy Nede. Right now, any character who gets involved with them, such as Rena and Claude, get flagged as Nedians and become forbidden.”

“Wait, so how did Claude get flagged as Nedian?” Penny asked. “He’s doesn't seem like he's been there.”

“As it turns out, the remains of the research laboratory were on the planet now called Miliocinia,” Enlo said. “And it really was an accident as far as I can tell. Perhaps due to him being near the machinery around the temporal destination Rena reached, it had just enough energy to warp one person to the same location it sent Rena. But in dealing with hundreds of trillions of years in temporal distance, thirteen years later is practically the same moment. Any other questions?”

Ashe nodded. “Yeah, how did they get released at this time? I thought they were supposed to be in a closed off pocket dimension. And why is it that resetting the game to before they were released not going to work?”

“The Eternity Space prison was supposed to hold them since it was locked with a password in a long forgotten language,” Enlo said. “But, it was also supposed to prevent all contact in and out, and neither Energy Nede nor the prison space stopped all contact. It went unnoticed to us, but the Nedians found that they could receive some communications by sending a satellite to the outer edge of their shields. In that way, they've been listening and watching the rest of the universe this whole while. Mostly for the same reasons we watch the Eternal Sphere so much. It's a major part of our society now; there's not a whole lot going on inside such containment. They've actually been watching Expel since its early stages of civilizations, even before it became playable to 4D citizens, as Expel lies very nearly on its elliptical path.

“And as it turned out, the Ten Wise Men could also listen in to the rest of the universe from their prison, even though it was far more restraining than Energy Nede's containment. Indelacio had used a computer device in his lab to create, enter, and lock the space, but he left the device outside the prison and had it sent into space just outside of the prison's containment field. About thirteen years ago from the Eternal Sphere's present, an Earth Federation ship picked up the locking device and brought it on board to study. Noel happened to be on the ship with his family and his synethesia made him vulnerable to being contacted by the Ten Wise Men when he was near the device.” Enlo rubbed his head. “Noel ended up possessed so that he could enter the password in the Nedian alphabet to unlock the prison and release the Ten Wise Men. I lost control of him then and the Wise Men ended up destroying the ship. Most of the ship's wreckage ended up going clear to Expel and falling there; that's where the Nuemanns and others got hold of Federation technology, and also how Leon arrived on the planet. Although I still haven't figured out yet how Noel survived being thrown into Energy Nede; I assume one of the Ten Wise Men had something to do with it, so who knows why.”

“He might have been vulnerable, but I believe anyone could have been possessed by the Wise Men on coming into contact with the locking device,” Blair said. “The prison always stayed near Energy Nede, and Expel is an inhabited planet on Energy Nede's orbital path. And I don't doubt that the Ten Wise Men could influence a passing ship to pick up the device. That's why I think setting the game back thirteen years or more won't change what occurred. Rena will always end up on Expel; we have no control over that since the cause is so far back in the past. Since the Pangalactic Federation is on an exploring kick, steering them away from Actura and surrounding star systems is not about to happen without heavy handed opposition. The device will surely be found and if it is while Energy Nede is close to Expel, then this event will simply occur again. We might even be in an almost-best case scenario right now, because this group seems well suited for this mission. And also because of Claude's accident on Miliocinia; he's actually a really excellent character to have on this adventure and I'm sure the training will really make him shine.”

“I’d say that our two NPCs are a major key to getting this done,” Enlo said. “Because Rena's healing magic is helping to even the odds.”

“Should we get players for them too?” Penny asked.

“I don't want to,” Enlo said, frowning at the idea.

“Why not?” Blair asked, curious.

“Well they're the leaders of the in-game group and thus will be seen as the biggest heroes, right?” Enlo said, with surprising passion. “People don't believe it's possible for NPCs to do that, even though the Eternal Sphere coding has sufficient complexity to consider them just as real as we are. They're thinking and feeling for themselves; even the player characters do this when left on their own, so our role is more like guardian angels like CJ said earlier. In fact, I think the Eternal sphere could operate independently if the players were pulled out and time allowed to flow freely. It's just, I doubt enough people here in 4D will agree to that to really try it. But look at Rena. She should be a primitive NPC more restricted by the coding due to coming from an earlier version of the game. But having grown up in the most recent game, she isn't restricted and acts independently. Even the Ten Wise Men are showing a level of competence that shouldn't come from early version bosses, so their limited contact must have influenced them too. Unless the earlier version was sufficiently complex enough as well,” he paused, now lost in thought.

“We can consider that later when they're no longer a threat,” Blair said, snapping her fingers near Enlo. “I’d have to check back in, but I’m pretty sure that the other programmers will be shifting a copy of the Sphere's current settings and codes to an isolated server base for the investigation, so that they can open up the Enteral Sphere again. Management isn't keen on letting it go on downtime for very long anymore. I'd guess another hour or two at least. So we need to get everyone registered to play on Energy Nede.”

“Right, right, sorry,” Enlo said, putting commands into the display console he'd been working with. It brought out a scanning booth next to it. “This isn't intrusive and the registry will take far longer than the scanning. Whoever wants to start, just step into the scanner.”

Penny turned to her parents and quietly said, “This is so cool! What do you think Energy Nede will be like? It sounds like it could be close to 4D.”

“Might just be,” Jeb said, excited too. “This will be fun to see how Ernest reacts to observing an advanced living civilization rather than one that's passed on.”

“I’m worried if I can keep up with all of you,” Nancy said. “I’ve not been that great with characters who battle a lot.”

“Don’t worry, you've got a character CJ created,” Jeb said.

She nodded. “Well yes, she does have a good knack for it. Looks like we're all getting to play heroes.”

“Maybe even stars?” Penny asked, thrilled at the thought. Because seriously, who wouldn't want to watch what would unfold?

But they'd be the lucky ones who actually got to play it.


	35. The Battle of Fienal Plaza

-Energy Nede, Fienel Plaza, Chisato

Although he'd asked for the tower to be evacuated, Noel remained in the plaza. Chisato tried asking him what he was doing, but he was too focused. Probably trying to get the animals to leave the area too so they didn't get caught in the conflict. She had followed him out into the prairie grasses. Still, as time went on, she started to feel that things were wrong too. She wasn't good at magic, but something like the extinction of a whole world, that would leave an unmistakable presence.

The NDF was arriving. They hadn't been able to pull their full force for this, but General Marianna was here with fifty others, mostly battle mages with a few fighters in the mix. While that was far more than the ten they were expecting, those ten were the most dangerous Nedians in history. About a third of the defense force went into the tower, but most spread out around the garden plaza.

This place hadn't been made with defending from invaders in mind. When it had been made, Nedians didn't expect to fight anything more for the rest of their history. The plaza was a large oval space tiled with smooth stone, with the length of it running east to west. Two trees stood in the center with some benches and tables around and between them. About twenty feet away from the trees, there was an oval formation of six long flowerbeds, raised and contained with brick. While they had some grass clusters and bushes, there wasn't much cover there. The plaza extended about thirty feet past the flowerbeds, with the bridge into Fienal Tower passing over the lake to the west end of the plaza. After a minute, Chiasto could finally pick out Marianna, standing by the eastern tree and looking around to review the situation and placement of her troops.

“What are you still doing here?” Noel asked, having finally noticed her as they were walking around the southern edge of the plaza.

“Why would I not stay?” she said, smiling confidentially. Although there was some fear in her, something more important kept her here. “I'm a reporter and this is going to be the biggest news in years, maybe even centuries. Granted, it's not good, but I’ve got to be here to see how this all goes down.”

“They probably wouldn't have a complaint if you simply watched it over the cameras,” Noel said.

She shrugged. “Maybe, but I would. Don't worry, I won't do anything stupid; can't write the story if I can't get away. But you'd better not do anything stupid either.”

“I’m just keeping the animals away,” he said. “I don't need to be in the middle of it to do that, but I do need to be aroun... guh.” He suddenly clasped his ears and collapsed onto his knees.

“Noel?” Chisato asked, kneeling down in front of him. Noel was shaking badly when she tried to touch him. Then there was a tremendous roar from overhead.

Looking up, she saw the sky clear up to reveal Expel rapidly turning the color of molten rock. A great many white flares burst away from planet being crushed, falling straight down to Fienel Plaza. There, the Ten Wise Men appeared, along with the Sorcery Globe hovering far over the trees and nine extra people who were all too familiar to Chisato. These were the eight adventurers that she had been following as the Expellian Chronicler, Claude and his friends. Although, she couldn't place the one extra person, an angelic looking young woman who landed between the two trees along with Cyril and Leon. The angel quickly took to the air, settling herself for hovering under the Sorcery Globe.

Spells began firing rapidly between the Ten Wise Men and the NDF; those who couldn't cast settled for attacking the nearest opponent. The Expellian adventurers were caught shocked for a few seconds, but soon joined the fray. Thankfully, they didn't seem to be mistaking the NDF for enemies yet. Chiasto watched, knowing that she could see the recordings later to better define what was going. Meanwhile, Noel was getting back onto his feet, still shaken but trying to do his best to keep the animals away.

Looking over at the bridge, Chisato saw a worrisome event. Four of the Wise Men had landed right at the end of the bridge. Indalecio, Nicolus, and Jibril were all hurrying across the bridge to get into the tower, with the leader easily slaying those NDF members who had taken position there. A lot of the NDF members were dying quickly. Back at the end of the bridge, Ashton was caught closest to Berle, who set himself, his giant metal shield, and his bigger magic shields up like a wall in front of the bridge so that no one could follow the other three. Chiasto considered trying to radio Marianna with her communicator, starting to grab it off her belt. But she glanced around to see what else was happening first. At the eastern end of the plaza, Claude was trying to fight Vesper while Shigeo rocketed around shooting missiles, taking out much of the NDF on that end of the plaza while Vesper was preoccupied.

Then there was a strange unholy shriek of magic as the whole plaza seemed to explode into blue fire. As she wondered what that spell was and who cast it, Noel stiffened and immediately stared at the center of the plaza. “That can't be...” he said, right before he bolted headlong into the battle faster than Chisato thought he could move.

“Noel!” Chisato shouted, running after him without a second thought. But she soon lost him and was now surrounded by blue flames, battles, and death.

Might as well fight too...

* * *

 

-Ernest

Then this was the end. Ernest was still in the ship's entrance with Leon, but as the destruction began, he regretted briefly that he wasn't by Opera's side. Seeing how she had thrown herself into making records of the Expellian people for the rest of the galaxy to know, he had been reminded why thoughts of her became an increasing presence in his mind. But he'd kept putting off accepting her love fully, thinking that he had plenty of time left to settle his life. Now that his life was about to be snuffed out, he knew he shouldn't have done that.

But instead of dying, he felt the familiar sensation of being teleported. When they rematerialized, he was outside somewhere, standing on a stone plaza. There were raised flowerbeds around, as well as another enormous tower that would be impossible to build with Expellian technology. But his surroundings quickly took less importance as he realized two things. One, Leon wasn't near him anymore. And two, a familiar face was a few feet in front of him, a man he hadn't spent long around but who had made an impression nevertheless.

In part, it was because of the giant two-pronged tuning fork he carried for a weapon. Ruprecht used it to fire off a large plasma beam into a group of people dressed in blue and violet robes. Battle magic-users? But if they were, they were dying rapidly to this one attack. Ernest took his whip and made a lashing attack that brought him into a better stance to keep fighting. It snapped through Ruprecht's sleeve, but it seemed he hadn't done anything to the man’s skin even though that should have cut through.

Ruprecht turned around, but he seemed oddly untroubled on being attacked. “Oh, so you were there,” he said, talking as though it was a normal conversation. He easily stepped just out of reach of Ernest’s next attack. “Well this is a nice surprise. I thought I’d tied her to your soul firmly, but apparently not.” He raised his tine up and made a pink orb appear in it. “Hey Lover, your prey's survived.”

After a lazy toss over Ernest's shoulder, the orb turned into the succubus who had possessed him. Ernest took a few steps and turned, trying to keep both of them in sight. Lover blew a kiss at him when their eyes met. “Ooo, so I don't have to admit that one got away from me. Come here...”

Then she got nailed by a flurry of alpha shots; Opera was prepping another round while she ran towards them to help. “Leave him be!”

Ernest went to attack Ruprecht again, hoping to use his slit sleeve to make a direct hit. However, the tear had strangely closed itself up. He had to alter his attack to turn his whip into a thorny rose vine, to strike at his neck and make it less likely for Ruprecht to escape. The attack hit, but Ruprecht was so unconcerned that he kept chatting. “Wow, you're one lucky man for getting two boisterous beauties to battle over you. And here I thought having your mind so focused on dusty old things would keep any lady from wanting your attention.”

Cultures were different with what was considered attractive... but that didn't seem right to say here and now. “Doesn’t matter when we're going to make you all pay for what you did to Expel.”

Ruprecht laughed at him, his wound from the rose whip attack already healing up. “Ain't got a chance of that happening, Mr. Archaeologist. Now lemme say something: I like you. Your dedication to exploring and learning strikes a chord with me. So I’ll tell it to you straight.” He then darted right to Ernest's side and got him in a headlock so fast that Ernest realized he was nearly cut off from breathing before realizing he was caught. “Expel was only the beginning,” he whispered into his ear. “We have a little thing called the Crest of Annihilation which will leave nothing behind. Absolutely nothing. Neither history nor the future matter anymore.” He then laughed and threw Ernest onto the ground.

However, his laughter didn't last long. Ernest could have sworn that the sky briefly turned to night before something shrieked like a dying loon (but not quite, that was just the first thing Ernest thought it was) and caused blue fireballs to rain everywhere, in every direction. One seemed like it would fly into his face, but it veered off to strike Ruprecht instead. Others quickly did Lover in amid screams of pain, so Opera hurried to his side.

Ruprecht swore and raised his tine above his head before firing the plasma beams wildly. Ernest quickly got to his feet and shoved Opera out of the way of one of them. In doing so, they nearly collided into the brick flowerbed behind them, where all the plants were now enveloped in blue flames. “This turned to chaos all too fast,” he said quickly.

“Right,” Opera agreed. Then she squeezed his arm. “Didn’t expect you to come charging at me heroically.”

Despite the situation, he smiled at that. “What can I say...”

And right then, a huge clay golem burst out of the dirt of the flowerbed, making them scramble to get away. Unconcerned with the fire, the golem looked around, then fired a clay fist at Ruprecht. The so-called Wise Man took offense to that and fired his tine plasma beam at it; one of his peers shot by behind the flames, firing red flares at the golem, Ernest, and Opera. Only an edge of it caught Ernest's arm; it felt like a severe burn everywhere it touched.

“What the heck is going on?” Ernest corrected himself.

* * *

 

-Leon

Once Opera explained what the symbols mean, Leon could easily make sense of the graphs and bars. This Sorcery Globe was definitely advanced technology, combining layers upon layers of crests and runes... it was like mana given physical form, set in a perfectly balanced and arranged structure so that even elements that would normally counter each other could be used with each other instead. It resembled the properties of energy stone as well, which he'd started to suspect based on stories Claude and his friends told. Perhaps once he got close to the Sorcery Globe, the way to control it to do what was needed would become clear. Maybe he'd even hear it.

But that wasn't to be. Leon had barely gotten a good look at their enemies (the ones he could see from the ship's entrance at least) when they announced that the end of the world was right at hand. Then the mana of the tower grew loud enough that he couldn't ignore it. It was many voices, some filled with hate and pride, some filled with emptiness and apathy, some filled with cruelty and greed, all of them destructive. Hearing those voices made him feel sick to his stomach; Leon wanted to scream, but his throat would not let him make a sound. Maybe this was all a horrible nightmare. He wished it was a horrible nightmare.

If it was real or not, more voices joined in the hellish chorus. This time, it was full of fear, confusion, and agony. And then, death. Death all around him, death below him, death above him, death before him, death after him, death of an unimaginable number of people, death of a whole world... death of himself?

No. Death within him. All the voices, hateful, empty, or dying, they had surrounded him and now they invaded him, filling Leon's soul with a power that terrified him. He finally managed to scream, but somehow it didn't feel or sound like himself. He briefly caught thought of a group of runes forming a spell... Extinction. The spell was cast and all the death escaped him.

He hoped it went after those Ten Wise Men.

They had killed Expel.

Killed... Expel?

Yes, the whole world was dead. His Momma and Poppa, and that ghost cat woman, and the king and all the knights, and all the scientists who complained about him, and all the kids who made fun of him, and all the people he'd never even met... they were all dead. How? Why? Weren't, weren’t they heroes going to save the world? Stop the demons? Stop the Sorcery Globe? No, it couldn't be stopped. They said so.

Then a voice full of light broke through all the dismal darkness Leon had found himself swarmed with. Realizing that he wasn't where he thought he was, Leon found himself sitting on the ground next to some kind of bench. That evil laughing white-haired one who spoke the most was getting on his feet, blood trickling down his face as he stared hatefully right at Leon. Blue fire seemed to surround them... and then it was all cut off by a wall of earth bursting through stone tiles. The man controlling the wall smelled like a forest morning; he wore simple clothes, making it easy to see his swishing cat tail with tan fur. Feline ears were tilted back in hostility towards the white-haired one, but otherwise he looked human. He said something, but all Leon could tell was that his voice sounded like forest sunlight. Well, he'd never heard that, but somehow he knew that if it had a voice, it would have his.

Leon suddenly felt terribly exhausted, so he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

 

-Dias

From finding out there were other worlds to flying off to save his world to realizing it could not be saved... and now being surrounded by strangers with no familiar face around and not being sure why he was here or who could be trusted... this was a strange whiplash day. Well he didn't know if the people in blue and purple robes were enemies or allies, but he knew the brawny guy with hair of a wildfire was one of the enemies. The latter clapped his hands together and screamed, “Spicule!”, whatever that meant.

It meant that the surrounding area was about to be drowned in a deluge of fire. The pain of it tore through Dias’ whole body. Around him, he saw the robed strangers screaming in agony and dying. No, he didn't want to die here. If he had to escape death again, this time just on guts, he'd do it to see these tyrants eliminated.

Somewhere behind him (was it close or far away?), Dias heard Rena call his name. As the fire faded back to nothing, his pain was wiped away in a soothing white light. She was nearby. She shouldn't be nearby, since this man could kill so quickly. Dias rushed forward and drew the Hope of Breeze, immediately lopping the tyrant's right arm off.

He sort of screamed, calling out, “HEY, you disarmed me! That's not very sporting to turn a studly guy like me into a stubby dweeb.” Dias ignored him and sliced off the other arm; someone who wanted to see the world destroyed didn't deserve a quick death. “And the other one? Now how am I supposed to flex my guns and perform dirty deeds with my torso being all stumpy? You're a jerk.” Then a white light surrounded him and let him grow two new arms, just as brawny and bronze as the last ones. “Oh wait, false alarm. I'm good now.”

Snarling, Dias took a defensive stance while he reviewed the situation. Regrowing lost limbs? That was well beyond what Rena was capable of. As much as he thought this man should suffer, suffering apparently was a joke to him and a quick decapitation was the best solution. Now he just needed to get into a good position to do so.

His opponent laughed. “Heh, aren’t you a strong guy? Not as strong as me, though; I could probably pop those deft arms of yours right out of their sockets with just my bare hands. Although I don't think I should, since it'd wreck your appeal. Let's get you all hot and brilliant!” He pointed a finger at Dias' sword.

Instantly, it turned red hot. Then yellow as it began to melt. Acting quicker than thought, Dias shoved the weapon into the tyrant's chest and left it there. That did draw a satisfying scream out of him.

However, he didn't die even with a katana melting in his body. His eyes became fireballs, his hair grew flames, and smoke started to curl off his body. “That's.... not... very... NICE!” Holding his left arm over his head, he made it turn molten white like the sword.

But before he could cast whatever spell would likely incinerate Dias immediately, another scream filled the air. It was quickly followed by deadly blue fireballs that seemed to be drawn straight to his enemy. Not one hit Dias, although he briefly felt the power of one when it zoomed past close to his head. Still, this did not kill the fiery tyrant. He glared around for whoever caused it, then settled on taking his fury out on Dias.

It seemed far too soon for him to be facing certain death again, Dias thought grimly. But his sword was gone now; its handle clattered to the ground when the molten blade could no longer hold it. He had his shield, but would that be enough?

Then a strange woman gave a shout and rammed her shoulder into the fiery tyrant. She wasn't even half his bulk, so it did little more than briefly distract him from Dias. As soon as he turned his head to her, the orange-haired woman threw a fistful of dust into the tyrant's eyes. He screamed and cussed, giving Dias the time to slam his round shield into the tyrant's head, knocking him to the ground.

But it didn't kill him. Still cursing and now trying to find him, he got back onto his feet. “Persistent bug, aren't you?” the woman said.

As much as he didn't like suggesting it, Dias said, “I think we'd better get away from here.”

* * *

 

-Ashton

This wasn't working. Ashton finally got the chance to start battling these crazed men who meant to destroy their world (and apparently had succeeded), but he could not even touch the one he'd landed near. Before he could get his bearings, Ashton had appeared here along with four of the Wise Men. Three had quickly run across a bridge leaving the fourth to stand in front and become a barrier of magic preventing anyone else from accessing the bridge. The barrier looked like translucent paper, but trying to beat through it was tougher than trying to put a mark on the hardest stones. The man behind the barrier just smirked as if this was an amusing play.

Something exploded against the barrier, causing Ashton to back up and glance around to see the rest of the field. Or garden, it seemed like a garden even though half of it was now in flames due to the battle raging in it. He saw Precis throw another bomb at the barrier, but it was just as ineffectual. As was the sudden flurry of blue fireballs raining across the battlefield. That shriek had turned Ashton's blood cold, but while it seemed to worry the barrier mage, his magic held. “That is one of the strongest spells of void and death magic,” he said, in a way that was like a kid noticing an interesting bug. “I wonder who...”

His words were soon of no interest to Ashton, as he heard Precis scream. He ran for her immediately, seeing that it was the one they called Cyril. In his hands, there was something that seemed like a fiendishly long lash, or like nothing but wind based on the flames and dust whirling around it. But he must have attacked her with it, given how her mechanical punching arm was now smashed into hundreds of pieces. If that wind lash could break the metal hand, then there was a good chance it could break every bone in her body.

Ashton wasn't going to let that happen. He was one of the heraldic knights of Eluria. Even if she wasn't one of his people, she was one of his friends and he would protect them to his last breath. Ashton took a few familiar steps and slashed at Cyril with a flurry of blows, one strike leading into the next like the flow of water, the last of which throwing Cyril up into the air and back ten feet, into one of the flowerbeds filled with red and blue flames.

_Holy ****, you actually did it,_ Gyoro said.

He had, hadn't he? Completed the actual Sword Dance for the first time. Unfortunately, any feeling of accomplishment was quickly done away with when Cyril got out of the flames calmly, with all of his wounds visibly healing up into nothing. He was even smiling. “Heh... dangerous worms, aren't you? But still worms.” Then he froze up before growling in a rage. “******* buggy fool, what now?” He then vanished into a brilliant light.

“Can you run?” Ashton asked. Even if Cyril was gone now, it seemed a better idea to get out of this battle.

“Uh, yeah, but my...” Precis got onto her feet, but was shaking as she looked over the remains of her machine.

“Let's go, you can make another one,” he said, taking her uninjured shoulder and nudging her to get going. She nodded and ran for the other end of this place. Ashton followed after her, glancing around for trouble. But it seemed the others had the same idea to get out of this situation fast.

Hopefully someone who was still alive knew a safe place to run to.

* * *

 

-Noel

Even if he knew it was coming, the death of the planet Expel and all the life on it tore right into Noel's heart. There was nothing that could make such an act seem reasonable, destroying the innocent and guilty alike with no chance that any of them could have stopped their fate. All those souls crying out with no understanding of what had just happened to them... what would happen to them? Could they find rest when their home no longer existed?

But there wasn’t a lot he could do for them, especially not now when he was trying to save the lives of a few animals. It was a futile gesture, keeping these hundred or so birds and animals alive for a little longer when nothing could be done to save the billions of lifeforms on Expel. One just had to save what could be saved, perhaps. Although, that thought caused a guilty twinge in his heart. Sometimes only saving what could be saved would end up with one being left alone.

There was a powerful rhythm of death in the background. Noel had thought it was simply a consequence of Expel's death, but now that rhythm was shifting in unexpected ways around a single source. But, it didn't sound like the mana voices of the Ten Wise Men. It was oddly fascinating, pulling at him. Noel got back onto his feet and considered getting further away from the battle. Or maybe finding that voice of death, since it had eluded him for so long.

Somewhere in the chaotic sounds of this struggle, another sound stood out: a familiar heartbeat that had gladness to see him, and worry about this situation, and pleading that he not seek death. Although that voice... as soon as he tried to pay attention to it, it vanished. That angel was back? Noel had once been angry that even this odd spirit had seemingly abandoned him too, but now that he heard it again, he had the feeling that it hadn't wanted to leave either. It was reassuring to have heard it again.

Then that voice of death screamed and grabbed his attention back. But that wasn't a voice of death entirely; it was one of the people who was in the plaza now. He had a stronger presence of water, but he too had been overwhelmed by the death song of Expel... wait, he'd heard it? “That can't be...” he started to say, but then he decided to look rather than just listen and saw that the Extinction spell had come from a Felpool boy with familiar blue fur. He was young for the hearing to have become active, but was unable to pay attention to his surroundings due to being overwhelmed by it.

And Cyril, that cruel bastard, was only a few feet from him and had been hit hard by the spell. Noel bolted into the plaza, ignoring the rest of the battle in order to get to the boy. While his studies had given him some battle spells, he didn't know many since he rarely fought to solve a problem. He called on the words to make sure that he could pull a shield of earth up around him and his son... no doubt of that, since mana had a similar tone around him. He didn't know how his son could have survived this long, but he wasn't going to let Cyril take him away now.

“What the hell, you?” Cyril said hatefully, the bruises and bleeding from the Extinction spell clearing up visibly.

“Yes, but I'm no longer yours,” Noel said, holding his ears back.

“You’re just another worm who doesn't matter,” Cyril snapped back, then vanished from the spot to seek someone easier to attack.

That didn't make things any safer, since most of the other Wise Men were out here wreaking havoc; Marsilio and Shigeo were even rushing this way, probably after his son for casting that spell. Noel closed the shield up further, then summoned three golems outside it. “Do as much damage as you can against the Ten Wise Men,” he ordered them. They held no sounds of life, but they were the most powerful monsters Noel could summon.

Once the golems were busy attacking, Noel glanced down at his son. What should he call him? The boy had collapsed from overexertion of casting that spell beyond his normal power and from being overwhelmed of the unfamiliar voices and the death silences. Although he wanted to check on him and see about making sure he wasn't lost to the voice of mana, eight of the Ten Wise Men were still out there. Noel had to keep this shield strong, until there was a good time to get out.

After a minute, he saw two unfamiliar people run by. The sound of their souls wasn't like that of the Nedians, like a more powerful melody of an unfamiliar chord in his son. Then were these people from Expel? Another one of them soon followed, along with Chisato. Well if they were getting away, he felt it was better to go with them. Noel made sure that none of the Wise Men were near him, then picked up his son and dismissed the shield to follow after them.

They ended up in a place past the eastern tree, where General Marianna was unsteadily standing with the help of an unfamiliar Nedian girl. Approaching them were a pair of Tetragenes from the northwest part of the plaza and an Earthling from the eastern garden entrance; the Earthling man had one of his eyes damaged, barely trying to cover it with his hand while trying to find them with the other. “Is this all that's left?” Marianna asked, her heart reeling with the massive failure of the NDF's first mission. But her inner strength tried to keep her stony in authority in a heartbreaking melody.

“Noel was...” Chisato said, but then saw him.

“Our group is all here,” the Nedian girl said.

“No one else can come,” Noel said.

“I thought we'd stand some chance,” Marianna said, using her communicator to send a message. The NDF promptly teleported them all away.

* * *

 

-Fienel Tower, Cyril

Apparently the tower had been ordered to be evacuated before they arrived. But the workers and residents here weren't used to evacuation procedures, having grown soft with many eras of safety. There were far more bodies inside the tower than outside now, a satisfying slaughter after they kept holding back on Expel. Still, it could have been better. They had let those dangerous ones outside go freely, more or less, since that idiot Indalecio called them into the tower too soon.

“Really, if it hadn’t of been for Filia being around, they might have been an interesting challenge,” Marsilio said. “Or even a challenge, although not by a lot.”

“More than anything around here,” Vesper said. “One of them took off Decus’ arms and he had a mediocre weapon.”

“Doesn’t have it now,” Decus said, grinning even though the metal was now solidifying down his chest. He didn’t seem interested in getting that removed.

Cyril shook his head. “I can’t decide if it’s better for them to have gone or be slain. Technically it would better if they were dead now. But then, I’d be interested in having more than a road bump for an opponent for once. By letting them go, they’re going to be driven to defeat us.”

“They already are,” Vesper said.

“Right, but they’re actually going to do all they can to get strong quickly. That might actually give us opponents that are worthwhile, even if they are still worms that need to be smashed.” And that was quite appealing.

“Still, Indalecio is going to screw things up for the rest of us if we let him keep going as he is,” Vesper said. “He’s dead set on using that crest.”

“I know, we’ve got to get rid of him somehow,” Cyril said. “Might even be worth it to help those worms if it gets rid of that buggy fool. Still, he’s the one with all the information we need to properly rule the universe. I mean to get it out of him, but that means cooperating with him for now. Vesper, I’m not sure how much I trust some of the other guys, so would you look into ways to fudge up that crest?”

“Sure,” Vesper said with a single nod.

“Hey, I can do that too!” Decus said, frowning.

“You’d cause the whole universe to burn no matter what change you made,” Vesper pointed out, making Decus laugh.

“Don’t worry, men,” Cyril said, smiling at the others. Although in the end, they were worms too, tools to help him become the ruler of the universe. “We’ll come out on top, since those who love destruction will end up only destroying themselves. I’m sure of that.”


	36. Recovery

-Central City Hospital, Precis

They had escaped the battle by teleporting to one location, where Rena had healed up the injury on Precis’ shoulder. Then they all got teleported to a hospital building in another city in order to make sure everyone was well. But it seemed Rena had done a good job on Precis; the doctor only put a salve on her shoulder and told her not to lift anything heavy with that arm for a day. She felt almost back to normal already.

Although, her punching arm was only a few pieces in her backpack now. And the whole world was destroyed. That was crazy to think about; did it really happen? Whether it did or not, where were they now? There was something about Central City, not a place she knew. And there were a lot of machines around, really slim and sleek ones that somehow helped in healing people. But they didn’t get her attention as long as long as machines normally did. What did they do now? Their enemies were crazy and strong; how did that guy’s shield even block bombs without flickering? Or the other one making a weapon out of wind. Even if they could beat them, it really didn’t matter. The world was gone, why?

Since she was taken care of, Precis left the room and looked for the others. They’d all been taken here, even if some of them got away fairly well. Leon and Claude were worst off; Claude had his eyes covered with blood when they met up to get away from the Ten Wise Men and Leon was unconscious. One of the new women they ran into, Marianna apparently, was having trouble standing. Precis had been relatively lucky in comparison in just getting her shoulder hurt. And she’d got to see Ashton be awesome. She should be really happy or really sad, but they combined and she wasn’t sure how to feel.

She didn’t see the others out in the hall; they must have gone to other places. Precis glanced in the room next to hers and found another patient room. Inside, there was a woman with long blue hair working with lots of machine parts and pieces, even tools. That didn’t seem normal. A metal creature like Bobot was in here too, moving objects around. “Oh, what are you doing?”

“I got called in because one of our guests had a broken translator machine,” she said, working on something small.

“I thought it was an enchantment,” Precis said, coming over to see it. “But that was before they told us they were from other stars that had awesome machines.”

“They probably explain things how they’re best understood,” the woman said, then looked over at her. “Ah, you’re one of them too.”

“Yeah, I’m Precis,” she said.

She nodded. “I’m Mirage. You were the girl who likes machines?”

She smiled. “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“We could watch your world,” Mirage said, going back to working on her machine. Or rather, what was probably Claude’s translator machine. He hadn’t been speaking clearly after the battle. “A lot of us were interested in what you were doing and hoping you’d win. On your world, though, but since you’re here, we’re going to help you fix things.”

“Did our world really get destroyed?” Precis asked. That seemed most important to figure out.

She nodded. “That’s one of the things we want to fix. I’ve also been tasked with getting the planet back, but it’s important to make sure we’re understood.”

“That’d be good,” she said, feeling a little cheered up. Maybe they could save the world after all. After it had been destroyed, but if they could get it undestroyed, it wouldn’t matter it they failed to stop it in the first place. “I’m not sure how much I can help now, though. My punching arm got smashed and most of the pieces got left in that one place.”

“Did it?” Mirage asked, seeming disappointed. “That’s too bad.” She pulled the translator device out from under a big magnifying piece. Then she handed it to Precis. “Here, would you put that just behind your ear?”

“All right,” she said, taking it. It was a really small machine, maybe the smallest she’d ever seen. Much of it was a clear curve that seemed like it would fit snugly behind an ear, but little bitty info-squares (what she called them; Bobot had lots of these) were spread throughout. She held it in place. “Like this?”

“Right, putting it on fully could be a touch unhygienic,” Mirage said. “What did I just say?”

“That putting it on fully wouldn’t be clean,” Precis said.

Mirage nodded. “Good, then it works.” She held her hand out to take it back, then said something Precis didn’t understand. Mirage paused, then said, “I’ll want to be copying this for the rest of you, and any of us who will be working with you frequently. I’ve learned to speak the primary language of Expel to see if I could do it, but otherwise we’d have to rely on the four with Pangalactic Federation translators to communicate between everyone.”

“Four? I know Claude, Opera, and Ernest all have one.”

“So does Professor Chandler,” Mirage said. “The man that brought Leon in.”

“Oh him,” she thought about it. “Yeah, I guess he would, because I couldn’t understand that Marianna woman or the orange haired lady, or the doctor until she used screens, but I understood him. So how’s it work, huh? I could see it working to translate what the wearer hears since it’s near the ear, but how does it make others understand them too?”

“It uses brain waves and a form of telepathy to send the message’s meaning to and from the wearer,” she explained. “It doesn’t work perfectly, since you need an adaptation to be able to read; I think I’ve got his set up to do that, but the important thing is the speaking and hearing. And it will look odd, since the wearer is speaking their native language but the translator is broadcasting in the hearer’s language. More or less.”

Precis nodded. “Yeah, we noticed.”

“Oh, and your punching hand device… why don’t you try using the equipment and gear I have in here to recreate it?”

“Really?” she asked, surprised. “Wow, thanks! I’ll give it a try. Oh, but when I first made it, I had Bowman’s hand diagrams to work from, since it had bones and muscles drawn. I’d have to do that part from memory.”

Mirage shrugged and went over to a screen like had been on the Tetragenes’ ship. “That’s no problem. We’ll get this to display and interact in Expellian… there, you should be able to ask this device about hand structures.”

“Hey, do you have a picture of how hands work?” Precis asked the device. It promptly brought up many pictures of the inside and outside of hands, in much greater detail than Bowman’s books. “Wow, that’s cool!”

“You should be able to ask about any portion of the diagrams or any of my equipment too,” Mirage said. “And don’t worry about payment. I’m just interested to see what you can do with this.”

“Thanks, Mirage!” Precis said, hugging her. “This is so great! I’m gonna get to work, um, once I find some proper stuff…”

“I’ll be back in a while to help out if you need it,” she said, nodding. Then she headed off to get Claude’s translator device back to him.

Well she still had no idea where she was, but Precis felt happy again. They could still save the world and she was back to machinery! Maybe she could make this hand even better than the last.

* * *

 

-Noel

“What happened to Leon?” the Nedian girl asked shortly after using a curative spell over the Earthling man (he still had to be pulled away by the Nedian doctors to be attended to quickly). “Did he cast that spell?”

“His name is Leon?” Noel asked, still holding onto his son. When she nodded, he said, “That was him, but it was above his capacity and he was overwhelmed by the death magic saturating the area. I should be able to pull his mind out of this.”

For now, she seemed to trust him. “Okay. Could I help? He’s one of our friends.”

“Can you cast water magic?”

“No, but I can use healing magic, somehow.”

“That’s because you’re a Nedian,” Noel told her. “Didn’t you take classes in Giveaway?”

She seemed confused. “Huh? No, where’s that?”

She did say she was one of Leon’s friends. Had she been on Expel somehow? “Never mind. I’ll ask the staff here for a room with high humidity.”

And he left the Expel group to do so, although the Nedian girl followed him. Maybe concerned about Leon since the doctors here seemed to be taking care of the others. The staff were confused about the request, but if Noel was to contact him through the voice of mana, it was best done in a place where his elements were favored. And it was too dangerous to take him to a place that favored the void element… how did he even get favored by that at his age? Maybe because of what happened to separate them.

Eventually, he got permission to use a room with a small pool and a humidifier. It was normally used to help those who were under a great deal of stress, so it was a relaxing area. That would help. But since Leon was sleeping deeply, Noel didn’t want to put him in the water until he knew that his son could manipulate it well enough to not drown. He got the Nedian girl, named Rena, to pull out a cot so he could put Leon on.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Rena aksed as Noel sat down by the cot.

“Keep quiet because I need to contact him through mana hearing,” he said. “Or if you’d rather, go find one of the nurses and ask for a mana replenishing drink. He’ll need it.”

“All right,” she said, leaving the room.

She wasn’t really a bother, Noel reflected. Not yet anyhow. And she seemed to be truly concerned about him. Noel made a mental note to apologize later for his being dismissive. It was just more important now to help his son, and hope that Leon could accept him after being separated so long. But, it was kind of funny that they’d end up with names so similar.

The thought made him smile briefly, but then he calmed his mind to focus on listening for Leon’s mind. Noel didn’t find it easy to listen to water. Because it could change itself so readily and take in other materials, water could sound like anything and rarely the same. Sometimes he could get information from water, but only if it had a strong connection to one of his favored elements like earth, plants, or air. Making the air in here heavy with water was one way to do that.

However, the death and void mana still had a strong hold on Leon. Not enough to kill him, but enough to block nearly any other voice to him. He had been on a dying planet, taken away at the last moment. Nearly everyone and absolutely everyplace he knew was on that planet, like his adopted parents and… Noel had the image of scientists come through. The ones who took him in were experts on their planet’s level of science. Because of that, Noel wondered if it’d be easier to reach Leon through logic than the very faint hidden connection between them.

He kept listening for a break in the death magic, eventually catching fragments of intelligent thought in it. What level of science did Expel have? Noel hadn’t paid attention to the chronicles of Expel, but he tried reaching him through simple ideas. The simple machines like the lever, pulley, and wheel and how they might connect to water. At a waterwheel, he got a response about waterwheels turning mills, even simple generators. Although the electricity could not be moved very far from the source, perhaps just in one town. “Why can’t you take electricity far?” Noel asked quietly.

Leon’s ears twitched, so he had made contact. Good; it had been a long time since Noel had communicated with another person like this, not since he’d last seen his mother. He listened through the mana voice as Leon started thinking through the electricity problem. They didn’t have wires that could conduct electricity well, or what wires they had they weren’t sure how to extend and keep the electrical power strong. Plus, a great many machines they had couldn’t handle electric power yet. They had light bulbs that worked, being the primary use of electrical power. That was enough for most towns to have some kind of generator on hand, many being waterwheels from the town water source, but also a few windmills and magical generators.

As the voice of death weakened, Noel pursued this method to keep pulling his mind away from it. “How do magical generators work?”

Leon answered a few more questions like that, eventually getting to the point where his lips were moving. While he opened his eyes briefly, he didn’t entirely awaken by the time he managed to ask, “Wait, you’re the forest sunlight. Who are you?”

Forest sunlight… Noel smiled at that. At least he must have sounded nice. “My name is Noel. Focus on my voice and come out of the sound of death.”

“How do you know the sound of death?” he asked, fearful.

It was growing stronger again. “Try not to listen to it now, listen to me,” Noel said. “I hear the voice of mana, as do you. It can help you, but it can also pull you so deeply into it that you won’t ever come out. Your friends are waiting on you to wake up, as am I. I know the voice of death is difficult to ignore, especially when it came so strongly. But you need to learn how to do this.”

“Are we alive or dead? Everything sounded like death, brought by those who hate.”

“We’re alive. You’re on a new world now, one called Energy Nede. The people here are trying to find a way to pull your world Expel out of the voice of death. They might be able to do it,” because even if most of them weren’t too strong, there were a great many brilliant minds shining here and they might still pull of this near impossible feat. “But we’re waiting for you to come out first. How long have you been hearing the voice of mana? You seem young for it.”

“I’m nearly thirteen years old,” Leon said, a tone of arrogance and exasperation in his voice. Maybe not that good overall, but good for now since he was showing some spirit. “I’ve only been hearing this for eight days, I think. There was a time when I nearly got lost in the voice of the ocean.”

Noel shuddered at that. He knew how overwhelming it was to try listening to the ancient trees here on Energy Nede (and even back on Roark). And listening to the earth was pretty dangerous too, but it wasn’t as organic as trees so it wasn’t as easy to get absorbed in the earth’s sound (as lovely and slow as it could be). But the ocean? “I don’t understand water as well as you seem to, but that sounds easy to get lost in.”

“How do you even hear the voices of mana? I didn’t think it was possible until I heard the moat and nearly heard the stars one evening.”

“It’s a rare ability,” he said. “Although sometimes it seems like a disability. I only know of certain members of my family who can do this. It’s just something we can do, but you have to learn how to manage the sounds of the world and the sounds of the people around you.”

“I’ve never read anything about it,” Leon said.

“I don’t think there’s anything written about it anywhere.”

At that point, Rena entered the room, distracting Noel briefly. Thankfully she didn’t say anything and closed the door quietly. Leon still noticed the distraction and seemed to be focusing on finding him. “Noel?”

“I’m still here,” he said. “Your friend Rena’s here now as well. Leon’s starting to come through, though it’s hard to say if he’ll be able to grasp your words.”

“Why wouldn’t he understand me?” she asked.

“She sounds like sunlight and moonlight but I can’t make sense of it,” Leon said, his eyes still closed. Anyone else might have thought him to be sleep-talking like this.

“Something in our minds get our senses mixed up,” Noel explained. “We can sense magic and hear sounds, but the signals go through the same channel if that makes sense to you. So we end up hearing magic, but that’s the only explanation I have of the ability to hear the voice of mana that I have. Think about it: to hear a sound so complex and strong that it overwhelms the mind to any other senses. And when they wrecked Expel, there was a lot of mana released at once in death. I wasn’t there and it brought me to my knees to hear it.”

“Oh, that sounds pretty bad,” Rena said. “I just had this horrible feeling of stillness; it’s still lingering a bit in my mind.”

“You can be overwhelmed by it too, even if you can’t hear it,” Noel said. “The people here are working on ways to fix things even at this point, so don’t lose hope on returning home.”

“We’ll get home, I hope,” Leon said. “I still need to talk to Momma and Poppa again.”

Right,” Rena said, a sad look crossing her spirit. “But um, what you were saying… one of the women, the one who could talk to me, she said that she thought I was Nedian too. But this is where the Nedians are and I’m from Expel, so I’m not sure what that means. I did leave home to try finding my birth mother.”

That stirred him. “I remember, Rena. We were talking the other day about not knowing our birth parents. I wouldn't know where to start.”

It was troubling for Noel to hear; at this point, Leon should have noticed something, whether the mana connection between them or how he said only his family could do this. But, maybe it wasn’t an easy thing to understand. “Good to know that you’re understanding her words now,” Noel said, then he looked over to Rena. “Could you keep going? Don’t speak too quickly and try to be clear. It’ll probably help him to follow your voice out too.”

“Um, all right,” she said. “Well, when I was a little girl, my adopted mother found me deep in Shigeo Forest one day. Arlia pretty much sits right at the edge of it, and it only takes about a five minute walk to get away from any signs of civilization. I had this pendant and a crescent moon hairpin that were the only signs I had of where I might be from. But then, one of the Ten Wise Men had something like this, and they said it ended up helping them. I had no idea what it is so I don’t know how to use it. Or if I should even have it now that it’s done something terrible.”

“It’s not a bad thing,” Noel said. “I recognize it; it’s a Quadratic Key. The Nedians can make them through crystalizing magic itself, so it can be used for many things if you know how to use it. I’m not a Nedian, but some of them should be able to tell you the source of the key that your pendant is if you let them examine it.”

“But how could I get on Expel if I’m supposed to be here?” Rena asked.

“I can’t explain that,” Noel said. “After all, this world is supposed to be sealed off from everywhere else. I’m an exception, so perhaps you got through on some extraordinary circumstance as well. Did you get there around thirteen years ago?”

She shook her head. “No, it was about fourteen years ago.” Right then, Leon finally stirred, opening his eyes and sitting up. “Oh good, it worked.”

“Yeah, mostly,” Leon said, rubbing his eyes. “There’s a humming… this room’s pretty humid.”

Noel nodded. “Right, I thought it’d make it easier to reach you since you have a strong water element to you.”

“Yeah.” Leon looked at him curiously. “But um, this is Nede? But you’re not Nedian, you say?”

Noel pointed over to Rena. “Nedians have slightly elongated pointed ears, particular structures to their facial bones, and a physiology that is very conducive to using magic. They’re originally from the planet Nede, but that planet was destroyed many eons ago. Now they live here on Energy Nede, a planet that they built. I’m a Felpool from the planet Roark, feline even though we have some strong resemblances to the primates that many intelligent races are associated with. I got here because the space ship I was in was torn apart violently and parts of it ended up here.”

“Roark is one of those other worlds, huh,” Leon said. “Where is it?”

“On a whole other arm of the galaxy hundreds of light years away from here,” Noel said, wondering if he was making the connection or thinking of other things.

“How do you measure distance in light or years?” he asked.

“It’s the distance that light can travel in a year, which is a very long distance,” he explained.

“But how do you measure that? Light’s difficult to study.”

Noel found himself wishing that he had paid more attention to the Expel stories, so that he had a better idea of what Leon would know about. “I’ve heard that. I’m a zoologist,” they seemed blank so it must not have gone through the translator well, “someone who studied animals in depth, but I know some basic things from core science classes.” He tried to explain what he could, first asking Rena to give Leon the drink to help him recover.

Not exactly what he thought his first conversation with his son would be, but then he’d never expected this to happen at all. He was grateful for whatever they had to talk about.

* * *

 

-Chisato

Since she’d jumped into the battle late, and because Decus was too distracted with the pepper in his eyes, she and Dias had managed to get out relatively unscathed. He had gone to look after one of his friends, and others had been taken away to be healed. Chisato decided to head for the government building and find Mayor Narl. After all, someone had to report to him and General Marianna was likely to be out of commission even with better healers than Rena around. At least, more knowledgeable healers.

Of course, he was busy dealing with what was going on. Chisato slipped into his office and listened in on it. After all, he’d left the door open so there was no excuse that she should have stayed out. Apparently the evacuation hadn’t gone well. The death toll was currently over two hundred, maybe even over three hundred. Energy Nede hadn’t dealt with such a large number of deaths at once in millions of years, not since an accident with a bacterial disease. At the moment, they didn’t believe that the Ten Wise Men were holding any prisoners or hostages. They had taken control of Fienel Tower and were setting up defensive screens to keep from being interrupted.

Then there was a moment where things slowed down and he finally noticed her on the couch by the door. “What are you doing here, Chisato?” he asked. “And for that matter, what were you doing at Fienel Tower?”

“My job,” she said, smiling. “That answers both questions, I believe.”

“Not entirely,” he said, but then pointed to a chair closer to his desk. “Come over here, I do want to talk with you.”

“How nice of you,” she said, although she suspected he was going to ask her to do something. Hopefully not keep this from the general citizens. She got up to talk with him more comfortably. “So how’d things get this far? I didn’t think we were expecting the collision today.”

“We weren’t,” he admitted. “The estimates yesterday morning said we still had around a month. Then another surge happened just in the past four hours; they’ve been occurring unpredictably. But we are still on course with finding a method to save Expel, only now we have to look into shifting the time-space continuum to pull Expel out of the dangerous time when our paths cross.”

“Can we get that done?” Chisato asked. “Seems to me that it would have been easier to push them apart before the collision.”

Narl shook his head. “Not with the Ten Wise Men in control of the connection. And, there’s not much we can do with our plan while they hold Fienal from us. We have to stop them. And you saw how well that went just now.”

“That was tragic,” she agreed.

“Now what were you doing there, seriously?” Narl asked.

“I was visiting Noel in Giveaway when he got called there to see about the animals freaking out,” she said. “So I followed him and it turned out that it was because the Ten Wise Men were preparing to jump directly there right as the collision happened. Something to do with mana, I guess, since they channeled a lot of the power released from the destruction to that point. Seriously, I could even feel it. Noel told them to evacuate and they had about fifteen minutes to do it.”

Narl briefly looked regretful. “There’s an evacuation plan for most buildings, but we use them so rarely. We should have thought to start practicing once we knew they were escaped. For now, I want to meet with all of you to talk about how we plan to deal with the Ten Wise Men when the others are healed up.” He nodded. “Even you.”

“Well I’m flattered,” she said with a smirk. “Just because I was there?”

“Not exactly,” he said. “Because most of you who got out actually managed to do something against the Ten Wise Men. Not Marianna, unfortunately; her spells had no effect against Marsilio, Shigeo, or Cyril, and the only reason she made it out was because the Nedian girl from Expel healed her, quite possibly saving her life. And what other NDF members were there seem to have been just as ineffectual. On the other hand, you and our guests from Expel were all able to have some effectiveness to your attacks.”

“I wasn’t doing anything special,” Chisato said, now uncertain of this. She really hadn’t hurt Decus, only kept him from outright killing them. Then again, this was going to be the biggest news piece around, and what better way to follow it than to be in the middle of it?

“You did just enough that you and that girl have more promise than any other Nedian on this planet,” Narl said.

“Her name’s Rena,” she said. “That group were the ones that have been pretty popular lately, as they were trying to investigate the Sorcery Globe and stop it from ruining Expel.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “Rena, is it? Hmm… at any rate, the ten of you appear to be our best chance at eliminating the Ten Wise Men. However, we have to deal with their superior healer in Filia as well as see about strengthening your group to better match them. To do that, we’re going to have to make a lot of exceptions. Would you go back to the hospital and gather them? The eight from Expel, as well as Noel Chandler, you’re the ones I need to discuss this with. Oh, and if Mirage is there, get her to come too; I think she speaks their language and Noel’s not very talkative.”

For actually involving her without being pestered, Chisato agreed to that request from Narl and headed back to the hospital after a few more questions. It seemed that most of them were taken care of, but as she thought, Marianna was going to have to stay put. The first ones she found were Precis and Opera with Mirage, using one of the patient rooms as a makeshift workshop.

Precis was excited about a mechanical hand weapon she had that looked different from what Chisato was used to seeing her with. The old one had been gray and red; this one was a clean white and pink. It moved smoothly as she controlled it with her handheld controller. When she started speaking, Chisato understood her without using a translation program. “Yeah, so they have lots better gear here, mostly in that I didn’t have to fix the things up, but still, this came together so quickly! And the computer helped me figure out which of the muscle replacement systems would transfer energy and movement best before she even got back and it’s working so much better than my old one. I think it could punch a lot stronger, but I don’t want to fully test it out here and wreck something.”

“You’re a definite mad scientist to put this all together without really understanding the forces and calculations at work,” Mirage said, very amused.

“I’m a what?” Precis asked, puzzled.

Opera laughed. “It’s a compliment. But still, makes one wonder what you’d come up with when you knew what you were accomplishing.”

“Well I’ll keep working at it and someday I will understand,” the girl insisted, then looked over at Chisato in the doorway. “Oh, hi, hope we’re not bothering anybody.”

“I wouldn’t know about that,” Chisato said. “I just got back from meeting with Mayor Narl; he’s our political leader around here. He wants to talk to you and your friends once you’re all healed and alert. You too, Mirage, although he said it was for translation purposes.”

“That shouldn’t be an issue,” Mirage said. “I’ve been able to copy the translation device Claude has in order fix that obstacle, and Opera showed me hers as an improvement. Are you going to be involved in this effort?”

She nodded. “Apparently. How’d you guess?”

“You walked out of that battle and you always had more spunk than most Nedians,” Mirage said, taking a small device from her helping robot. She walked over to pass it to Chisato. “You ought to have one of them too. But I’ll be there; I want to know what he’s got in mind.”

They had to find all the others. Rena, Leon, and Noel were the hardest to find, but eventually a nurse pointed out that they’d gone to one of the specialty rooms to help Leon. The boy was awake, which just left retrieving Claude. While there was a bruise across his face and eyes, they had managed to keep him from losing his eyes and any vision capacity. He seemed a little drowsy from the medication, but was alert enough to talk to them and agree to go to this meeting. Mirage assured them that they were working on a way to restore Expel so they didn’t have to worry about that.

Narl also told them how they meant to save Expel, and that they needed to retake Fienal in order to do so successfully. Overall, the meeting was rather dry for Chisato. Narl had to explain to those who came off Expel about the Ten Wise Men and how Energy Nede related to them, a long piece of history that Chisato had been researching lately. Then again, those suspicions weren’t all that important in the face of the Ten Wise Men either taking over or destroying the whole universe. And, that latter possibility became stronger when Ernest told them that Ruprecht had spoken of a Crest of Annihilation.

Of them there, only Mirage really knew about it. “It’s a forbidden spell, has been that way even before we cut ourselves off and restricted all battle spells,” she explained. “With sufficient power, it can destroy the whole universe. And I’m sure the destruction of Expel would have released that kind of power, so we’re all short on time.”

“How are we going to stop them in such a short amount of time?” Claude asked. “They were healing at an unbelievable rate, far faster than we could damage them. I suppose if we separated them from their healer and each other. Still, it’s going to be many tough battles.”

“We need to make all of you stronger in that case,” Narl said. “I don’t think it’s a matter of hours; it’s a high level crest with a massive amount of power to contain and channel, so we may have a couple of weeks. We’ll continue to monitor them to gauge their progress better. In the meantime, all of you should decide if you want to do this. If you agree to help stop them, then we will be sending you into the Cave of Trials in order to train. It’s a place that will test the souls of those who go through it, strengthening them if they pass. The entrance is in the Trial of Hope. On passing that, you’ll enter the Trial of Intelligence to go through the rest in sequence. Each one increases in difficulty, but with each trial passed, you stand a better chance at passing the whole thing. If you do have trouble, you can always come out and retry where you left off. We’ll help you as much as we can, but the rules that the trial guardians set must be followed.”

Chisato had never been through the trials herself. At Giveaway University, the magic students were expected to at least attempt them. Passing the trials was considered a guarantee at graduating. But then, she’d never studied magic so was never asked to try them. As far as she knew, Noel hadn’t been through the trials either; he’d been accepted as a professor there when he demonstrated his mastery over the magic he knew.

Still, this was a chance to right something that had gone terribly wrong. That might have been enough, but Chisato was also curious about the people from Expel. She’d been following them all along, a hidden observer telling their tale to a world they didn’t know about. How would they feel about her joining them? And reporting on the trials could be interesting too. For that reason, she agreed to go with Narl’s plan.

Those from Expel all had strong reasons for wanting to do this as well. It was to save the planet they loved and what most of them called home, after all. The only one who was likely on the fence was Noel, since he didn’t seem keen on fighting ever. Then again, Chisato was almost certain that Leon was Noel’s son. She wasn’t sure of the story behind that, but once Leon said that he wanted to help (and wouldn’t be talked out of being too young to help), it wasn’t long before Noel agreed to help as well.

Thanking them for their help, Narl gave them a set of rune codes that would allow them into the trials. He also said that he would spread the news to all Nedians that the ten of them were to be assisted however possible in their efforts. This was going to be a dangerous mission, but it was one that had to be done.


	37. Trial of Hope

-Armlock, Dias

Extra training sounded like a good idea; Dias felt fairly certain that he could do fine against one of their enemies, but there was a chance they’d have to fight more at once and it would be good to make sure the others were strong enough. He didn’t want to see anyone among his friends die on this mission. However, there was a problem before they could even start training: the last battle had wrecked a lot of their old equipment, including his father’s sword. It was a big disappointment to have lost it, especially in a way that would be unrecoverable. Claude had offered him the basic long sword he had still, which was functional but reduced his fighting capacity. At the end of their meeting with Narl, Dias brought up that problem. It was one of the new members of their group, Chisato, that offered the solution. “There’s only one place on Energy Nede to get weapons or armor and that’s Armlock. I know the best craftsmen there. Once they hear about what we’re doing, I’m sure they’ll help us out.”

But on arriving at the shop Chisato and Mirage took them too, Dias felt suspicious. They only had one forge, and that was behind a glassed in wall that couldn’t entirely be seen. It was in a cluster of rooms along with a kiln and a glass workshop. In a way, it made sense for all these crafts that required lots of heat to be clustered around a main furnace. Still, only one forge and this was the only place on this whole world that made weapons and armor? “That doesn’t seem right,” Dias told Chisato after look over the place.

“On your world, it wouldn’t be,” she said. “But there’s hardly any fighting outside of sport here, so we don’t have to make this kind of gear. Still, they take a lot of pride in it and hold crafting competitions regularly.”

“How do you know so much about Expel?” Rena asked her.

Chisato grinned. “I’m a reporter, and I happen to be the Expellian chronicler. We’ve been able to watch your world for a long time; it interests a lot of people. So I’ve been watching you for a while now, hope you don’t mind.”

That also didn’t feel right, being watched by unseen viewers. This world was strange. Before he could say that, the head blacksmith of the group finished reading the note from Narl. “All right, so you’re the ones fighting the Ten Wise Men… sure, we’ll get you the best we’ve got in. Might be costly on us with the materials, but it’s more important to get rid of them and return Expel back to its proper place.”

“That’s great,” Chisato said. “I knew we could count on you guys.”

“Um, if you’re worried about materials, I can give you the ones I have,” Rena said, pulling a small burlap sack out of her travel bag. It seemed full of rocks, but when she opened it up, several rolled out onto the table as they were all perfectly round like marbles. “Really, I’ve just about run out of these small bags to put them in and I don’t know what to do with them.”

“Where did you get all these?” the blacksmith said, picking up a red one that had a golden glimmer in the center. “This is a really fine star ruby marble.”

“It’s this Trickster bracelet I have,” Rena said, taking a second full sack out. “It does give some nice things I can use sometimes, but I’ve only had a couple of weeks and it gives so much stuff.”

The blacksmith was now examining a blue one that might have been a sapphire. He nodded. “That’s quite an artifact. These would help with customizing the pieces, so we should be able to get you exactly what you guys need. Thanks, that helps a lot.”

“Then that must be an authentic Trickster,” Mirage said, seeming impressed. “I’ve heard that it can be a blessing that quickly becomes a burden because it’s incomplete.”

Rena looked over the bracelet, then held it out for Mirage to see. “Well I don’t have to worry about money with it, I think, even if it is overwhelming. But that’s what the last person who worked on it said, that she couldn’t complete it for lacking something to finish with.”

After a critical look, Mirage nodded slowly. “I see. I think I know what it needs and I don’t think Trickster itself will give it to you. But I should have some of it back in my workshop. Do you mind if I try to complete it? The final piece should still give you valuable and useful things, but it’s said to be wiser with its generosity.”

“That’d be great, are you sure about it?” Rena asked, slipping the bracelet off.

“Sure, it’ll be fun,” Mirage said, taking it. “And I think I’ll take a couple of these marbles too; I could use some on the time-space research. I’ll be back here in a couple of hours.”

It seemed that the Nedians had the same enchantments on their closets as Rena had on her bag, since they were pulling out an improbable amount of items out of storage while trying to find replacement gear for them. Much of their equipment did appear to have remarkable craftsmanship. At least an eye for detailing, as everything was made to be an art piece on top of whatever function it had. One of them gave Dias a ring made to look like stars linked together; it was supposedly a magic shield they called a star guard. He tested it out by putting it on and slamming his hand into the side of a heavy worktable nearby. The blacksmith winced at that abuse, but a magical shield appeared and kept him from hurting his hand at all. Impressed by that, Dias accepted the star guard instead of using a regular arm shield.

Their best equipment was for the magic users, as it seemed Nedians were very proud of their heraldry heritage. That was fine; Dias didn’t know about Noel, but Rena and Leon could use the extra protection for what they were all getting into. One of their crafters spent some time resizing some of the robes to better fit Rena and Leon once they figured out the best ones to use in combination with their elements. While there wasn’t as many options for the rest of them, they had the star guards and some star greaves that were quite nice, along with chainmail armor and helms made entirely from mithril. That seemed extravagant to Dias; Claude’s sword having two mithril charms had been the most he’d seen on one item before and those were quite small. But they were quite strong when he and Ashton tested them out. The Nedians even had some armor they said was only for female fighters. Odd, but Chisato, Opera, and Precis seemed happy to accept full sets of those.

“I was afraid these would be obviously showy pieces,” Opera said, wearing the Jeanne armor set. It did have a strong feminine silhouette, with an armored overskirt over the greaves. “But these are pretty nice and modest.”

Chisato was amused at that. “Hah, well you don’t mess with a Nedian woman out to protect her own.”

That left their weapons to take care of. For some reason, Ernest asked the crafters if they had an electrical workshop for him to work on his own weapon. They did and let him borrow it, so he took off and didn’t even take one of the material marbles with him. Opera and Precis soon followed; the latter already had a remade weapon, but Opera wanted to adjust her weapon in the same place. Most of the others seemed satisfied with what they had, which left Dias and Ashton to work with the blacksmiths on getting their weapons upgraded.

Dias’ first attempt to customize the long sword got him a sword with a noticeable curve and a white sheen. The blacksmith had to identify it. “That would be a Pleiad Sword. It’s a great deal stronger than it was before.”

“I’m not so sure about the curve,” Dias said, giving it an experimental swing. It moved through the air differently, looking almost like the surface of a river when used.

“This doesn’t have as many options for it to customize further,” the blacksmith said. “Want to try again?”

Dias nodded, taking a star ruby from the group that the blacksmith offered him. When he’d seen Leon helping Claude, there had been mention of the user’s thoughts affecting the customization results. But what did one think about for this? He just wanted something that worked closer to the katana he was used to.

This time, it was a straight blade but still not a proper katana. It was apparently a Soul Slayer, which did sound like it would be more effective if it struck right at the soul of the enemy. But he decided to try again. The blacksmith was certain that they had a Soul Slayer in storage, so he could always ask for that if this next customization failed. After some thought, he decided on a sage’s stone to combine it with.

It certainly didn’t fail. This one gave him a katana, one that had a deep red blade and an edge that seemed like it would even outdo his father’s old sword. When Dias first held it, he felt an uneasiness with its appearance. But it was an incredible weapon. “That would be called the Crimson Diablos,” the blacksmith said. “I haven’t seen that weapon before; there’s an enchantment on it I can’t quite figure out. But, it seems like it would be stronger than it appears.”

“It looks strong,” Dias said. He decided to stick with it and see what that enchantment would do.

“You sure you want to be using a sword named for a devil?” Ashton asked, apparently done with his work. He now had a pair of swords in the same style as what he normally used. However, this pair had glossy black blades with glints of something else, almost like the night sky.

He shrugged. “It might have the strength of a devil; we could use that now.”

“As long as it’s just the strength it has,” Ashton said. “I’m not sure what to make of what mine are called. Might be something the translators can’t quite get, because Melufa doesn’t mean much to me.”

“No clue on that one,” Dias said.

“You all done?” Mirage called into the workshop as she came in.

“It’s been a couple hours already?” Ashton asked, puzzled.

“Right, you guys were busy,” Rena said. “Opera, Ernest, and Precis are still working on something, but I think the rest of us are ready.”

“Good, because I’m done,” Mirage said, handing the bracelet back to Rena. “Here’s your Fortune; should be a lot easier to handle than Trickster.”

She smiled as she put it back on. “Oh, thanks! So what did it need?”

“Pure heraldic power crystalized into a physical form,” she explained. “Basically what your people call energy stone, only refined a great deal further and processed differently. It’s the same way your pendant was made.”

“Oh would you know how to find where this one was made? Since it should help me figure out who my parents were.”

“That’ll take some more research on my part,” Mirage said.

Some laughter came from the hallway where the three others had disappeared to. As they came out, Precis said, “Aw come on, I want to see the rainbows!”

“Be patient,” Opera said, mischievously smirking. “I might blast out part of their walls, or at least a window.”

“It’d take quite a lot to take out these walls,” Mirage said.

Opera nodded. “Right, but since we no longer have to worry about galactic laws here, we set our weapons back to their normal state. Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn’t. Although you still need to keep that deconstructor gun locked.”

“It’s a last resort weapon,” Ernest said. “Or if I get annoyed at a sealed door.”

Mirage glanced over them all, coming to the entrance area of the workshop. “All done now? Good. You’ll need to take a ferry to the entrance of the trials. Quickest way to get one of those is to take the teleporter over to L’Aqua so you’re right on the water. You might want to use the facilities at L’Aqua when you want to rest too, since it’s not as active as the towns. Just holding onto the rune codes will let you into the trial area. If you want to put them on hold, find a signpost that matches them and activate the switch on the side of the sign. You do have to all be together, but you’ll be transported back to the point you left off at when you approach the trial entrance again. Got it?”

It sounded like it would make more sense when they got there. Still, it had been a long day, coming from the beach on Eluria all the way to this new world. They decided to get something to eat in Armlock, then head over to L’Aqua to spend the night so they could start the trials fresh.

* * *

 

-Ashton

Since they were taking a boat out to the trial, Ashton expected the trip from L’aqua to the island would take a couple of hours at least. Not so; this ferry seemed as fast as Ernest’s flying ship, racing across the small waves at speeds higher than one would expect from its small frame. It was barely ten minutes before they arrived at an island that didn’t seem entirely real.

It might be natural. The ground was rocky, covered more in moss than in grass. However, there were no trees, it was strangely flat like someone had smoothed it out that way, and it had seven even straight sides. In the center of it, there was a strange building also made of seven exact sides and an architectural style that didn’t make sense. Decorative pillars had geometrical designs, but also extremely thin portions that didn’t seem like they should hold up the higher designs. Parts of it looked very old and mossy, while other parts were clean and polished. While it certainly looked mysterious, Ashton thought it was tacky (especially after seeing what they could do with their armor).

Claude brought out the rune codes, written on a series of stones linked together with rope. “Well just holding this is supposed to get us in, so let’s go.” The rune codes flashed before they even took a step, momentarily blinding.

Then they seemed to be in the ocean, under the water. Yet not in the water; someone had made glass powerful enough to hold back the ocean, in a long tube that stretched gently downward. They could see fish swimming by in large schools, even the sun shining above the water. “Wow, this is awesome!” Precis said, going over to one of the curved walls to take a closer look at a jellyfish.

“It is a nice place, better than I’d expect a trial to be,” Ernest said.

“Are you all right with being in here, Leon?” Rena asked.

Ashton wondered why she asked that, but Leon did have an odd look to his face. He pricked his ears up at her question, then said, “Ah… it’s very noisy here. Doesn’t seem quite right.”

“Try to keep focused on us,” Noel said to him.

“It’s not that noisy in here,” Ashton said.

“He hears magic, especially water magic,” Rena said, which finally made sense of why he and Ururun sensed the whole ocean in Leon that once. “So this place will have a lot of noise to him if the water keeps so close.”

Leon started to walk ahead, then paused to scratch his head. “Um, well… we’re in the Trial of Hope’s front side. It should be just a straight walk from here. I can sense the back side of the trial like through the crack of a door. Do we have to do both sides, or just one?”

“I only ever heard of this having one side to it,” Chisato said.

“I can hear bits of the other side too,” Noel said. “But as for how to reach it, I have no clue. Let’s just go down this path and see what’s here to test us.”

There were a few monsters on the path down, some of them fairly strong. However, this was all a straight tunnel where they easily saw the fights coming and they had better equipment than before. None of these fights were much trouble. That is, until one froze them in place while seven of those giant slugs that swallowed people whole started crawling towards them.

‘Your world is dead, its killers stronger than gods. How can you save anyone now? How can you trust these strange people who admit that they watch you without you knowing about it? Can they really save Expel? And if their people are the ones who made those monsters, then why are they sending you to fight them instead? You’ll fail in a vain effort, so there’s no reason to continue on. Just go back and protect yourself. You are the last…’

A strange voice assaulted Ashton’s mind with what were actually valid questions. But, he couldn’t give up now. There was still a chance to save Expel; they had to believe in that. It had to be possible. Otherwise, they might as well give up in despair and nothing would get better. This way, they might at least destroy those who had destroyed Expel. Ashton broke out of the time freeze as did several others. He rushed forward to fight against the slugs before they reached other members of the group, although his friends quickly joined in.

Ending the battle brought them ten feet from a large circular door into the earth below another island. On one side of the door, there was a six foot tall hourglass filled with pink sand, slowly marking the time. On the other side, there was a stone slab marked with the rune codes and a message: ‘Start with Hope, for without it none else is possible. Plan with Intelligence, to see the way forward. Set off with Courage, driving on through the unknown. Go with Strength, to uphold conviction. Remember Love, to know what must be protected. Keep Humility, to remember goals that must be finished. Lastly, see with Clarity to know the meaning of it all.’

“Are those the names of all the trials?” Rena asked.

“That’s right,” Chisato said. “It’s the virtues that a Nedian wizard is supposed to keep. Though you could say not all of them did past the trials.”

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen the virtue of love in the middle of a sequence, not at the beginning or end,” Ernest said, amused by it. Had he been through trials like this before? He had explored many places before.

“It is not greater or lesser than any of the others,” a strange voice said. It seemed to be coming from the hourglass. “But like the sign says, if you don’t start with hope, you won’t get anywhere.”

_That was the hourglass,_ Gyoro said, then decided to speak aloud, “ _What’s the inanimate object doing talking?_ ”

“Because I’m not the inanimate object, dragon,” the hourglass said. Or whatever was talking through it. “I’m speaking through it. I’m the guardian of the Trial of Hope, Dreampeace.”

“It’s a spirit living on the other side of the trial,” Noel said.

“Hey, how do you know about that?” it asked. “Wait, never mind, that’s a silly question isn’t it? I was the one who froze you here, but you all had the hope to break out of the spell. Hmm, so then…”

“That means we pass, right?” Claude asked.

“Normally. This time around, though, you’re a large group. So we do things differently by making the back side of the trial available. What will happen is that at the start of each trial, the guardian will pick out one or two of you that it likes and send them to the back side. Once both sides are complete and the guardian pleased, you will all pass. How’s that sound?”

“Seems reasonable,” Claude said, glancing around at them. Ashton nodded too; it was a little worrisome if they couldn’t help the other side. Maybe they could by finishing this side? “But, does that mean we have to start this one over? It was just a straight walk down here.’

“The back side is harder,” Dreampeace explained. “It’s that way for all of them. And I already have people on the other side.”

“But we’re all here,” Claude said.

Dreampeace seemed amused. “So you think. But maybe time would have flowed differently. Maybe someone else would have joined you, while one of those with you would have decided something else was more important to them. There are others who might have been here had time been different. They’re the ones who are here… oh, I think they’ve gotten done too. Time flows different…” the sand in the hourglass shone.

Then three ghosts from Expel appeared. Ashton felt surprised because he recognized two. One was a woman who had to be a Mars sorceress, with many heraldic tattoos on her visible skin; that was Celine. The other was an older man with a strong physique but intelligent eyes; that was Bowman. And the third… she was someone he was certain he’d never seen before, a young woman with a long brown ponytail and a plush hand on a stick attached to her back.

“I thought you said you’d take one or two, not three,” Precis said.

“Huh?” Dreampeace said, seeming confused. “Oh… huh. I thought I only called Celine and Bowman. I’m not sure how this Welch woman got here…. But I drew those that represent hope to your group. Perhaps her too, somehow.”

Then the three of them turned from ghosts into real people, if only for a moment.

* * *

 

-4D chatroom

CJ*: What did you pull us out for?

CJ*: Hey, wait a sec…

Ashe*: Wow how’d you get a star CJ?

CJ*: I guess the same way you did?

Penny*: That’s cool!

Dano*: What are we talking about?

Ashe*: Looks like it’s the whole group.

Enlo*: Not my doing, I just called everyone out of immersion.

Blair*: The network asked us if they could broadcast the sequence from Eluria Tower to the end of the Fienal Plaza battle, that’s how the stars got there.

Nancy*: Even the mod, huh?

Blair: I’m not supposed to have one.

Dano*: Did they have a big audience then? I didn’t think one show was enough.

Jeb*: It must have been enough.

CJ*: Enlo? Gonna explain any time soon?

Enlo*: Yeah yeah, I’ve got something.

Enlo*: I think I can get you and Jeb into Celine and Bowman, at least for the duration of the Trial of Hope. Want to try?

Enlo*: Not sure about Blair.

Blair*: I’d like to see that; I should be able to get Welch if she showed up there.

Jeb*: Sure, why not?

CJ*: They’re going to be behind the others, but it’ll be nice.

Blair: Someone back at the office is going to get a smack on the head for this star business.

Penny*: haha, that’s silly.

Enlo*: In the meantime, we’ll pause the rest where they are and see what it’s like on the other side.

Dano*: Hey, do you think it’s creepy to be watching them like this? Dias was thinking that a little while back about the Nedians watching Expel.

Nancy*: Maybe a little, but the difference is that we’re helping them at the same time.

CJ*: Yeah, you could say the same for any show that follows real people. I don’t think this is too bad since we help out.

Enlo*: We’re like angels to them, don’t worry about it.

Enlo*: Okay, ready for you two to log in as those two characters.

* * *

 

-Trial of Hope, Celine

She woke up and wasn’t sure when she went to sleep. If anything, Celine was certain that she hadn’t gone to sleep in a cave. This one didn’t look like any particular cave she recognized; the walls were dark with trickles of water running down them, a crooked stream cut the ground unevenly. The last thing she remembered…

There had been an earthquake that lasted for over ten minutes, tearing the castle apart. She had found Chris and had run out of the collapsing building with him. But then the air seemed to be crushing her with its heat somehow and… well she wasn’t sure past that. Shuddering at the memory, she started down the only way she could go. There had to be a landmark or something down here that would help her figure out where she was and why she was here.

At a junction in the cave, she came across two other people coming out of other tunnels. One was reassuringly familiar, even if she hadn’t seen in him a long time. “Bowman, great to see you! Do you have any idea where we are, darling?”

“Hey Celine,” he said, nodding to her. “As for where we are… nope, sorry, I don’t recognize this place. It’s definitely not the sanctuary. Just…” a troubled look crossed his face. “Where were you last? I was at home in Linga with Nineh.”

“I was outside of Cross Castle with my husband.” That was extra confusing; how had they run into each other from separate continents? Celine looked over at the younger woman there with them. “You have any idea where we are?”

“Hmm, sort of, maybe,” she said, putting a hand to her cheek. Her actual hand, rather than a cloth hand on a stick that she had for some strange reason. “We’re in the Trial of Hope. It’s a test, mainly for those who have hope for us, so we’ve got to have hope in them so they can do something great. Come on, there’s not a lot of time.” She headed off down the remaining tunnel that none of them had come from.

“What do you mean by all this talk of hope?” Celine asked, following her. Bowman decided to come along too, not that there was a lot of choice to make in it if they wanted to figure this out.

“It’ll make sense by the time we’re done,” the strange woman said.

A short time later, they came across a large cavern. Large stones came up from the ground, making the cavern something of a maze (if an easy one because there were higher ledges to climb up for a look down, as well as lots of gaps to look through). A large stone slab full of writing was nearby, as was another strange young woman. This one was wearing a puffy white and pink dress with a short skirt, long trailing ribbons, as well a matching big hat. “Hey, it’s you!” she shouted, pointing at them. “I’m here to take my revenge!”

Celine glanced at Bowman, figuring it might be another one of his old girlfriends. However, he seemed equally confused. On the other hand, the girl with the hand on a stick glowered at the other. “HEY! You’re the one who was messing with the stars, weren’t you? You know how I feel about that!”

“Ah, what are you doing here?” the girl in the ridiculous costume said. “Erm, well…”

She whipped the hand on a stick off her back like a weapon. “You wanted vengeance, huh? I’ll give you vengeance, Puffy!”

“Waaait, I can explain!” she shouted, but bolted into the maze the moment the other girl started running.

“What was that about?” Celine asked, staying where she was.

“Not a clue,” Bowman said. “But since we’re here, let’s figure out this trial business. I have a funny feeling that it will turn out to be important.”

She nodded. “You’re right. That stone seems the best place to start.”

At first, the letters on the stone slab didn’t make much sense. Then they began to glow and shift, taking on familiar forms they could read. ‘Start with Hope, for without it none else is possible. This is a story of love that wasn’t spoken, left in hidden threads of yearning. Only one thread made both connections, but none had hope to act on their love. Set the statues to those they hope for and find the guardian between the two who should have succeeded if they had hope.’ Following that was a long list of what a dozen people loved about someone else.

“This looks like a complicated web of passion,” Celine said, smiling at it.

“No kidding,” Bowman said, studying the list and patting his pockets. “Wish I had something to write with on me; this could take some doing to deduce.”

Noticing a black stone on the floor that looked right, Celine picked it up and dragged it across the ground. It left a mark. “This looks to be charcoal, so it’ll work in a pinch. Let’s go look for these statues.”

Not far from the stone slab with the story, they found a statue of a woman. It wasn’t painted, but great care had been taken in the details of her face, jewelry, and hair. She stood on a circular base that seemed like it could be turned readily. On the top of the base, the name ‘Mihane’ was written. “The slab said that Mihane liked the sparkle of the stars, I think,” Bowman said.

“Maybe a feature of another statue,” Celine said, glancing around. But at the wall of the cavern, she spotted something sparkling. “Or wait… there’s a mural over there of stars. Maybe she’s supposed to be looking that way, so she didn’t love anyone in particular.”

“Might be,” Bowman said, taking the statue’s shoulder and turning her to face that way. There was no click or anything that said it was right. “Wait, I think there was another hint, about a man who loved a lonely maid. It might mean her.”

They did find the man, named ‘Darren’, and faced him to look at Mihane. Still no clue that they were doing things right, but something did happen. Celine's vision blurred and like a dream, she saw something of their past, when they had first met each other as teenagers.

…

Her parents had told her to stay at the home of her fiancé’s parents and be a good young lady. But Celine didn't like that. Why should she be stuck inside on a beautiful day like today? Fortunately the Jeanes were reasonable people and didn't mind if she went outside to read the heraldry books she'd borrowed from the university library. Linga was a pretty town; they even had a bench on the bridge over the stream running through it, which made a nice place to read.

At least, she'd thought so. There was a bunch of kids running around and screaming in play. Not only were they disruptive, but they made her feel jealous. When she had been a young girl, the elders of Mars Village were strict about how much playing and yelling the kids could do. Always had to be proper and well-behaved, but that looked so much more fun. There were also the university students milling around, talking and apparently doing some experiment that involved black powder to make a lot of bangs. Celine left the bridge and went looking for another place to study.

But the whole town was busy today, or at least it seemed so. She didn't really find a quiet spot until she went past the town gate to the roadside. Out there, she came across her fiancé. Bowman was an attractive and intelligent guy, he had that much going for him. Still, he was nearly twenty, which was older than she expected. And he seemed to be capable of flirting with every girl but her, which was frustrating. Celine had only been here a week, but she knew of at least three other girls who were trying to get between them already. There were probably more around that she hadn't noticed or met yet.

Well, they were already engaged, so she ought to at least be nice to him. “Hello Bowman,” she said. “What are you doing out here?”

He looked over from where he was crouched in the grass, then waved at her. “Oh, hey Celine. I'm looking for some herbs for my pharmacology master. I can at least get the common ones out here. What about you?”

“I've been looking for a spot to study,” she said, holding up the large book she had. “But this town is so noisy.”

“It can be some days,” he agreed. “What’re you studying?”

Celine decided to sit on the ground near where he was. “Astrology and star magic right now. I want to go back to studying fire magic, but the elders say that we should study several fields before settling on an element and type to focus on. But I already know I want to stick with fire magic. There's a lot you can do with fire magic, but it doesn't seem like there's much you can do with star magic.”

“I have seen some of the others do neat stuff with fire magic,” Bowman said, sitting down on the ground too. “But you know what kind of magic I always wanted to study? Healing magic.”

“There’s no such thing,” Celine said. She'd been disappointed to learn that, since it seemed like it would be even more useful than fire magic. “Nobody knows any runes for it.”

He rubbed his chin. “Yeah, but you ever wonder why it doesn't exist? I think it should. I mean, look at potion making and pharmacology. We can make potions with magic or without, and it can imitate magic or not; it's like magic in some ways. But you can make potions that heal when you can't find runes to heal. I don’t see why that should be, and that's why I switched over to pharmacology from magic. I figure if I can figure out what makes potions heal and mimic magical effects, then maybe I can work out runes for healing by following similarities between potions and runes.”

“It might work,” Celine said, although she wasn't sure.

“Have to try, even if it is a lot of studying,” Bowman said. After a minute of quiet, he got back up. “Hey want to go on an adventure? Not too far, just to the sanctuary cave in the mountain. But there's so many trails there that you'd have to really try to go the same way twice, and there's lots of neat hidden spots. We can be back by dinner.”

“I should be studying, but that sounds more interesting,” she said, getting up and brushing dirt off her cloak. As they walked along the road, thoughts came back to bother her. Eventually, she told him, “I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not really sure about all this.”

“Going to the caves?” Bowman asked. “Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.”

Celine blushed. “Not that. Um, I mean our getting married. You seem nice and all, but it just hasn't set in for me, I guess.”

He looked up for a moment, thinking, then at her. “You know what I think about it? I think they considered everything but us in this arrangement. With my dad being head of the university now, it's all about forging a bond between Linga and Mars over one between us. I'm not too sure about it either, but our parents are saying it's a good thing. But then, you are still a kid in some ways.”

“I am not a kid,” Celine insisted. “Well, maybe compared to you”

“Well, we have a year until you turn fourteen to figure this out,” Bowman said. “Let's forget about it for now and go exploring.”

…

As her vision was returning to the trial cave, Celine heard Bowman say, “Been a long time since then, it seems; I almost forgot about it.”

“About what?” Celine asked. “That memory from when we were still engaged?”

He shook his head. “Not that particular day; though that was fun, I remember you hurling fireballs at a precarious rock and getting frustrated that it wouldn't come down like you wanted. And eventually had to switch to wind blade to get it down.”

She laughed at that. “Right, but it did get that chest open. I remember it; that was the first treasure I picked up on an adventure. We split up, but ever since that day, I knew I wanted to be an adventurer.”

“And now you're a princess; funny how things work out.” Bowman rubbed his chin. “I mean about finding healing runes through studying potions. I got so caught up in learning medicine, illnesses, and health that figuring out the heraldic runes for it slipped my mind.”

“It can't be too late for that,” Celine said. “Especially now that you've become good at healing through medicines. Plus I’ve seen a girl who has healing spells, but can't explain them. I think you can still do it.”

“I think we know the same girl,” Bowman said. “You’re right, I might be able to make progress on it now. Well not now; now we'd better figure out this puzzle.”

Looking through the cavern, they found the ten other statues and had to figure out which way to turn them. Some of the clues were easy to figure out, like how only one of the statues wore a crown of flowers and another statue was said to love someone for their love of flowers. Others were tricky, like ‘Luke’ who was lined up with four woman and his clue wasn’t very clear. But as it turned out, ‘Luke’ was one of the correct pair, along with ‘Millia’. Once all the statues were facing the correct way, a fairy in a pink dress appeared between Luke and Millia.

“You did well in solving my riddle,” the fairy said. “I am Dreampeace, the guardian of Hope.”

“Good, but what are we solving this riddle for?” Bowman asked.

“Do you know these people?” Dreampeace asked, waving a hand and making an illusion of ten people appear. But they weren’t the statue people. Some of them were familiar, the ones who had helped bring her and Chris together.

“A few of them,” Celine said.

“I know most of them were investigating the Sorcery Globe,” Bowman said. “Can’t say I recognize all of them, though.”

“They hope to save your world from some very dangerous people who think themselves to be gods,” the fairy said. “But their enemies greatly outpower them and can destroy worlds, so they have come to these trials to prove their worth and make themselves stronger. Their hearts and hopes need to be strong, so I brought you here to help them. Although, you can only help them with this, and then I need to return you to sleep and wait for them to succeed. Do you have hope for them to succeed?”

People who thought they were gods and could destroy worlds? It sounded unbelievable. Yet, there was a small voice in her heart that said it was true. She remembered the last she’d seen of Chris, those terrifying minutes that they couldn’t explain. It seemed that Bowman had experienced that too. “I remember the air turning into a crushing fire without warning,” he said. “But I’m here, so I don’t know what’s happened. Are we dead?”

“Perhaps,” Dreampeace said. “Perhaps not. Your fates are in flux because of what your friends are doing.”

She’d heard that something like this was possible when someone used powerful forbidden magic to affect time. But to fix it also required great power and skill. Did they have that? They seemed to be equipped impressively at least. “Are they all friends?” she asked.

“Some are old friends, some are new friends,” the fairy said. “Some need to learn to be friends through these trials. Will you have hope in them?”

Knowing that made it fairly easy for Celine to decide. “Sure. I would have lost hope had a few of them not talked me into following my heart. It sounds like a terrible situation they’ve gotten into, but if my hope helps them in any way, then I’ll give it.”

“I’ve had hope for a few of them who were pulling themselves through terrible circumstances,” Bowman said. “I know most of them are good people… I’m sure their friends are good people too. All right, I’ll be hoping and praying for them while I’m in this flux state.”

“Good, then let me bring you over to them briefly to materialize that hope,” Dreampeace said, causing the cavern to fade into mist. Then they heard her voice as if growing closer, “I drew those that represent hope to your group. Perhaps her too, somehow.”

“In a way you can’t imagine,” a cheery voice said. It turned out to be that odd woman from earlier. Now they were in a strange hallway that seemed to be underwater. There were fish swimming just beyond the walls, unnerving at first but beautiful too.

“Celine, Bowman, um, nice to see you again,” Rena said, coming closer to them. “Although we weren’t expecting it.”

“We’re not sure how we got called here either,” Bowman said. “But the fairy said you needed our support, so we came to visit for a little bit.”

“We’re going to save you all in this eventually,” Claude said. “Don’t worry about it; we’ll handle things for you.”

Celine smiled. “Good, then we’ll trust you to that, darlings.”

“What do you three hope for?” Dreampeace asked, for some reason taking the form of an hourglass.

“Most of my hope is for my wife and child,” Bowman said. “But it seems I have to hope for your success first.” Then a staff appeared in one of his hands; it was made of a wood that almost seemed golden. While it seemed simple in appearance, it bore a tremendous amount of heraldic power in it. “Oh, this…”

“You should give the Million Staff to Noel,” Dreampeace said, pointing out a man with brown hair, cat ears, and a tail. Odd, but odder still, “You share similar hopes.”

“In that case, it’s for the best,” Bowman said, going over and handing the staff to Noel. “You take care of your family; my child’s not even born yet.”

“Is that so?” Noel said, seeming sad as he accepted it. “I’ll take good care of your hopes, then. May your family have good days ahead.”

Celine had been thinking over what she was hoping for during that. “I have a lot to hope for,” she said after the exchange was made. “I hope for the best for Chris and I… and I hope I can do what’s expected of me. I want Cross to continue to be a peaceful and prosperous land, I just have to figure out how they do it.” As she spoke, a pair of gloves that gleamed like blue jewels appeared in her hands. It seemed like this would support a person in spell-casting.

“That’s the Risen Hope, and only Rena can really use it out of who’s here,” Dreampeace said.

“I was just thinking that they’d look lovely on her,” Celince said, going over to give them to Rena. “I’m sure these will help you greatly.”

“Thank you, Celine,” Rena said, smiling. She had to take off her knuckles weapon to put the gloves on, but they fit perfectly.

“Um, Welch?” Dreampeace asked, still unsure.

Welch had been looking over the stone slab nearby. “Huh?” she asked, turning around. Then she grinned. “Oh right. Ice cream sandwiches. I hope I can find some because they sound extra tasty right about now.” When they all stared at her blankly, she laughed. “I’m kidding, of course. I... hope for the best for Expel. That’s the best way I can word it. Hey, but you know,” she flicked her hand and somehow called up a rolled up piece of paper that she tossed to a girl wearing a large backpack. “I like this plan, but I can’t make it right now. Would you see what you can do with it, Precis?”

“A plan?” she asked, taking off a string and unrolling the paper to look at it. After a few seconds, her eyes went wide. “What? No way!”

A three-eyed woman that Celine just remembered was named Opera peered over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows at the plan. “Oh my… are you sure about this?”

“Very sure!” Welch said cheerily. “I hope that helps.”

“I can’t wait to build this,” Precis said excitedly, looking over at Opera.

“We’ll have to wait, but that’s certainly worth waiting for,” Opera said, grinning.

“Thanks Welch! I’ll do a good job.”

“Ha ha, I’m sure you will,” she said, nodding.

“Then I’ll be watching over these souls and make sure they stay at peace until they can be saved,” Dreampeace said. And it was like falling asleep.

She wasn’t afraid, though. Whatever was going on, Rena and her friends would save them. Celine felt sure of it.


	38. The Trial of Intelligence

-Dias

Once the spirits of Celine, Bowman, and Welch were gone, Dreampeace unlocked the door to the next trial. The next hallway was dim, its surfaces as smooth as the tunnel through the ocean. Since it was under an island, Dias expected them to emerge in a cave. Instead, they stepped out onto a tiled floor in front of one of those stone slabs. The lights immediately turned on, revealing that they were in a huge room with a lot of machinery that didn't all make sense but it was working somehow. Three pathways that seemed to be supported on nothing went out into thin air, leading them to a maze of platforms with spherical devices. Overhead, a much larger platform nearly stretched from edge to edge, as a circle within a square.

Just as he'd glanced over the room, colorful sparkles filled the air around Opera and Precis, shortly before vanishing with the two of them. That worried him briefly, until Ernest reminded them, “Looks like they were chosen by the trial’s guardian. That means we've got to solve this side of things.”

“Right,” Claude said, looking over the slab.

This one had instructions on it. Some of the words didn't look quite right to Dias; maybe they were ones without an adequate translation. 'Plan with Intelligence, to see the way forward – Within this trial are many questions. Some are irrelevant, some are key. Go to the generators and unlock them through answering their questions, then ascend to face the machine puzzle. Solve the machine puzzle to pass the trial or else be eliminated from this path.'

“And those two would have made a machine puzzle much easier,” Dias said, annoyed at the hindrance. But maybe if Opera and Precis solved their half quickly, they could help finish the other half.

“We’ll consider that once we work out the generator quizzes,” Claude said, looking over the layout of the room again. “The pathways won't be easy for all of us to be on, especially if there's monsters here too. Let's split up into two groups; looks like we can each take one of those paths to reach half the generators. Look over the questions and see what can be answered. If we need to, we can always call over to the other group to see if they know an answer to a question.”

That seemed like a decent plan, so they decided on how to split up.

* * *

 

-Opera

From a room of clean precise machinery into one of dirty abandoned machinery; it was quite a change of scenery. Opera first checked to make sure that she had solid footing, on a nearly bare patch of floor with a frayed wire running along the floor nearby. Piles of junk were all around the room; Precis had landed on a somewhat precarious perch on a large cog. On one wall, there was a large flat screen where a corner of the display was showing colors wrong. On the wall where the sole door was, there was an oversized circuit attached to several lights (all out) and what was likely the door's lock

“Hey, this place is like a machine treasure room!” Precis said, hopping off the cog to get to the floor. “You’d have to fix up most everything, but you could also make a lot of neat stuff, I bet.”

“It’d take some time, but we probably could,” Opera said, smiling at her enthusiasm. “But I think it's here for us to solve that puzzle on the wall. We've got to tackle this side of the trial of intelligence.”

“But that looks easy,” Precis said, going over to the wall to check on the circuit.

“It is the first puzzle,” she reminded the girl. “Seems all we need to do is find a battery to power it, then a couple of switches to make sure the power goes through the right wire.”

“Um, some of that stuff you said sounded funny,” Precis said. “But I think I know what you mean. A power source and switches.”

Wondering about that, she said, “It could be that the language of Expel doesn't have words to match the terminology I use for machinery. So it forces the translators to come up with the next best thing. It might even be that we think we're using the same ideas, but we're not because the translators can't handle it perfectly.”

“That weird, and maybe trouble. All well, gotta hope for the best huh? Let's look for the stuff!” She then turned to look over the piles of junk. Before long, she spotted the switches and started trying to slot them onto the wall, judging if they would work or not by eye.

Opera walked around the room until she came across a battery that appeared to be the right size and shape for the slot on the wall. While she didn't have her usual tools here, she did find a wire attached to a light and was able to use that to make sure the battery had power to it. “Here’s a power source,” she said, bringing it back over. “Are you done with the switches? I don't want to put it in with you still messing with that.”

“Um,” she traced her fingers along the path she made, ending up at the door lock. “Yup, that should work.” Opera passed her the battery, letting her set it in. The light by the door lock immediately turned on, followed by a click as the door unlocked. At the same time, a sound from the screen made them look over that way. “Hey, that's me at Bowman's place, I think.”

It did seem like that, somehow being a recording from within the pharmacy when Precis was probably four. She was playing with what seemed to be a rather normal doll while her father talked with Bowman and another man nearby. “Then is it a matter of producing enough power, or getting that power over distances longer than a hundred feet?” Bowman asked.

“I think it's the distance issue that's holding us back,” Precis' father said. “After the fires at several generators, people are more wary of having them inside their towns. It would make sense to have bigger generator stations outside of towns, but then we can't take it far enough and people are getting used to the lights.”

“I'm pretty sure it's the power,” the other man said. “We could do so much more with electricity than just lights if the stations could produce more power. Just think of mills that are dependent on the water remaining steady or the wind blowing. I've gotten some interesting actions with electrical circuits that could make machines do a mill's job constantly. Or other work, but there isn't enough power to run bigger devices. That's why we've been looking into these alternative generators.”

“Going too big too fast could turn dangerous,” Precis' father said, right before a woman burst out of one of the back rooms and ran off.

“Florence!” the other man said, getting up and running after her.

Meanwhile, Nineh and another woman came out of the same room.”I hope he can catch up to her,” Nineh said, holding onto the other woman's arm.

“What was that about?” Bowman asked.

“Our research on the energy generators...” the other woman said, upset over whatever it was.

“It could be what’s making them ill, and we don't think either of them will be able to have more children,” Nineh said. The recording ended there, leaving the screen to shift over to calculating something.

“That was my mom, but I hadn't heard about anything like that,” Precis said, turning to Opera. “I was even there, but I don't remember it.”

“You must have been young enough that the adult conversation didn't mean anything to you,” she said. “So you had electrical systems figured out before the ship crashed into your world?”

She nodded. “Yup. I knew my parents helped out with it. Huh, but I never had any sisters or brothers because of it? That's sad.”

“I wonder what they'd been looking into. But that's right, some kinds of research can be dangerous, especially if little is known about the field before you get into it. I've heard of a few women in my world's history who had similar things happen to them.” Precis looked discouraged, so Opera added, “But they found out really important things from it, and were able to keep others from suffering. They made sacrifices, sometimes without even knowing it, but they felt it was worth it.”

“I didn't think learning things could be dangerous, but you're right, it must have been worth it,” Precis said. “If it's important enough, gotta keep working at it.”

In the next room, there was a similar circuitry puzzle, this time requiring more switches since the lights had to fall in a certain pattern to open the door. Precis had no trouble with it, as it may have been something she picked up young from watching her parents work. And as in the last room, a screen in the room played something when they unlocked the door.

This time, it showed Opera walking down a dim hallway. Large white panels on wheels had been moved to certain areas next to the walls. “I guess that's one way to get past security,” she said quietly. “But where...? Oh, Mr. Raviende!” She hurried to the end of the hallway, where Ernest was examine a wall.

He looked back at her, puzzled for a moment. “Oh, Miss Vectra? Don't mind the mister outside of class; you may call me Ernest. Seems so strange to be called like that, even now.”

That delighted her. “All right! You may call me Opera then.” She looked at the wall, where a shield in the shape of a spiral shell was in place. “What are you doing? There was supposed to be a class.”

“I've been trying to solve a mystery,” Ernest said, not paying attention to the last statement. “I suppose getting this far... oh wait, you're here! Opera, would you place your hand on the gear in the center of the spiral? Just be ready to let go quickly and run just in case.”

She wasn't sure what he was doing, but nodded. “All right, if you say so.” She took hold of the gear and it glowed blue. She leaned back and nearly let go, but then the shell began sliding away, revealing a shield with a bird on it.

“Yes, it was here!” Ernest said, taking the shield. “I believe this is the original crest of your family. It only makes sense that one of you would be able to release the lock. Of course, I had to figure out which of the ground level buildings had been the residence of the head of the Vectra family before the wars that drove people to live on the higher levels in all cities. But this should be it.”

“That’s been missing for nearly two hundred years,” Opera said, amazed by the discovery. “My grandfather thinks it was destroyed in the wars.”

“Well, we would need to take it to him to judge if it is the real crest,” he admitted. Then he handed it to her. “You keep hold of it for now, just make sure to be very careful about it. It would belong to you eventually. Now we need to get back above the dead line before the day ends... wait, what are you doing down here? Most people don't come down here.”

“I've been looking for you,” she said. “You were supposed to teach freshman history, but you never came into class so we all wandered off. But I checked your notes and tracked you down to here.”

Ernest immediately turned pale. “Wait, it's Wednesday then? Ack, I thought it was Tuesday and that I had the time to get down here and back... man, the graduate studies board is gonna kick me out for sure this time. Ah, well... could I give the lecture to you while we head back? So that I at least taught something today, that should count.”

“I think it'll also count if you explain to Grandfather what you did to find this,” Opera said. “My family very nearly funds the university, so they might excuse you if this does turn out to be the real original crest.”

“I hadn't thought of that,” Ernest said, and the recording ended there.

“He was your teacher at one time?” Precis asked. “How old are you two?”

Opera laughed at that. “Sort of. At our university, they have high level students, like Ernest was at the time, teach beginning classes. That's where I met him, that history class where he was late to class half the time, and this once didn't show at all. But he was the one who got me really interested in history. Now we're both professors, although he's still absent-minded with his classes like he was then and I end up having to go chase him down.” Even though she'd first picked history so she'd keep running into Ernest, that interest did become important on its own too.

Precis' eyes lit up at that. “Could I go to your school? Cause you've got to teach lots of stuff that the Linga University doesn't.”

Shaking her head, she said, “Sorry, as much as I’d love to take you back with me, there's laws among the galactic community that keep us from sharing technology to worlds like yours. It would greatly unbalance things.”

“Aw man,” Precis said. “Well, if I make technology that lets me get to your world, will you teach me then?”

“That’s quite a jump from where your world's at,” Opera said. “But if you did, sure. Although, given what's going on, Claude, Ernest, and I think there might be a way to get an exception made for Expel. Your first contact with other worlds has been violent, but it's still contact. Then there wouldn't be a problem to bring you to Tetragenes for a few years.”

She grinned at that. “All right, we'll have to hope for that! But I'll have a lot more to study, huh? I'll study really hard.”

“Yeah, you need a lot of catching up to meet other educational standards, but I think you can do it.” Opera winked. “And if you do manage to build that machine in Welch's blueprints, I’m sure that'll convince anyone that Expel can handle contact.”

“I just need to look for the right parts then, maybe here!” They headed off to the third room in a good mood.

This one was different from a simple circuit puzzle. On two of the walls, there were a number of wheels, poles, circuits, and other small devices. The screen in the room actually gave them instructions this time: the puzzle was to get a ball from one end of the puzzle to the door's lock without touching the ball. If they broke that rule, the puzzle would reset. This took some planning, even going back into the first two rooms to search for other pieces that didn't seem to be in here. But it was satisfying to see the solution play itself out; she felt like a little kid again seeing it fall into the last slot, so she clapped hands excitedly with Precis in celebration.

This time, the recording started with Opera again, several years after the last one. Three stacks of old books were sitting on a table nearby, but she was at a computer screen showing some recordings to a group of friends and students. “Ferridos 2 is a highly volcanic world, with its crust broken into many small plates with a lot of seismic friction. This leaves the winged people on this world distrustful of the surface. Where many other worlds have the earth seen as a maternal goddess or another mostly benevolent being for nourishing plants and producing jewels, the Ferridos people see their earth as a malevolent being opposing the life-giving sun that they take nourishment from. The ash thrown up into the sky that forces them to move often to find sunny areas is seen as the earth's jealous attacks of the sun.”

The recording then skipping jarringly, showing static before changing view. Now it showed Precis, probably ten years old, fiddling with a cylindrical device on a work table. Her father walked in, mumbling over a drawing. But once he saw what she was doing, he hurried over and pulled her away. “Precis! Don't mess with that one.”

“Huh, why not?” she asked. “I was trying to figure out what it does like the last machine.”

He took the device and looked it over, disconnecting a few wires. “The rest are okay as long as you’re careful. But not this one. If anything, we can take it apart to use in other machines, but don't activate this one.”

“What’s it do?” Precis asked, hoping to get it out of him.

For a half second, maybe, a bloody image of the same location appeared before reverting back to Precis and her father. “This one is dangerous,” he said. “That’s all you need to know.”

Then it switched back to Opera's presentation. “The Ferridos would have given the jewels away, being the creation of their hated earth god, but the allure of these weapons that were far more advanced than anything they had was too much. They gave the jewels in exchange for the guns thinking that the merchant was a fool, not knowing that he would sell them for a thousand times what the guns were worth on another planet. And with those weapons, the tribe long held as a powerless minority destroyed all the tribes that had oppressed them, eventually becoming ruthless tyrannical rulers of their world. Their war had killed too many and within a few generations, the Ferridos society collapsed and nearly went extinct.”

It jumped back to Precis, but at another time. Not that long ago either, as she was working with Leon on the Lacour Hope to install the parts. “How strong is that?” she asked.

“To put it into perspective, this should be capable of flattening Hoffman Island in two or three shots,” Leon said.

“But why'd you want to do that? The pyramid is awesome and should stay up until we figure out how those doors and such work.”

The boy shrugged. “It’s just an illustration, although it would make those mines a lot easier to access. Then again, if the Eluria threat is taken out, flattening Hoffman might end up releasing its powerful monsters to the rest of the world. It's probably better to keep it as it is.”

Precis looked over a double spiral of tubing, making sure the connections were snug. “Then what's going to be done with it after the Sorcery Globe's taken care of?”

“That’s for the king to decide.”

The recording then jumped to an entirely different scene, but also with the Lacour Hope. It was in a room with a red floor that almost looked like glass. Two of the Ten Wise Men were there, one of them being Cyril. “Look Indelacio, those worms are going to bug us anyhow, so we might as well have something to spice things up. We can easily make this weapon a million times more effective.”

Indelacio didn't reply, wasn't even looking at him. Instead, he looked out of a window over the rest of Energy Nede. His face showed no hint of what he might be thinking about.

“Might even make that not an exaggeration,” Cyril said, his fist clenching at some restrained anger.

“It’s a pointless task,” Indelacio said. “Our descendants are pitiful. Wrapped up in security and kept away from anything that could challenge them, most of them have become feeble and foolish. They think they know everything, so they don't care to learn anything and only seek to be entertained. It might even go for the other side. Not that there's much point to thinking about them.”

“There is that space ship still hanging around,” Cyril said, still trying to convince him. “We did tear through the planet’s security shields getting here. Besides, I thought you were really interested in this thing when Nicolus first called you about it.”

Indelacio turned to the Lacour Hope, walking towards it. “It’s the best that that world could make it, which would not be suitable for our use. The pipes need to be entirely constructed from heraldic crystals instead of simply being coated with the dust in order to withstand any rounds more powerful than it's currently capable of. While the double coil spiral design is clever to fit it into what was already there, a circular charging coil with a few additional vacuum points would be far more efficient and effective. The extra space can then be used for a battery and amplifier. Also, the barrel should be extended further to allow for greater distance until the fragmentation stage.”

The scene jumped again, this time to Opera. It was after the presentation, where she was talking with one of her friends after the presentation of the Ferridos people; that planet’s history had been one of the reasons for the UP3 laws to come into place. “Ern gave me all these books a week ago,” she said, smiling happily. “They’re all books from the Ferridos people, their printings before they became endangered. And most of them from before the tragedy with the guns; they had a lot of interesting cultures among tribes, but it’s hard to find any not from the final tribe.”

“It’s just more work for you to do, studying them along with other cultures,” her friend said. “I don’t think it’s a very good birthday present.”

“Aw, come on, he knew I’d love these,” Opera said, ignoring her friend’s negativity. “And you know, he managed to get the month right at least. I can forgive him for not remembering the exact date with this.”

“And not showing up to the party?”

She shrugged. “He has projects he’s working on too. I understand.”

“Well I don’t,” her friend said. “Seems like he just gave these to you because he picked them up on some adventure and didn’t want to keep them in his place. Has he taken you on a date and said he loved you?”

“We’ve gone on dates,” Opera said.

“I know you’ve dragged him on them for the most part.”

“I don’t care,” Opera said. “He said he decided to buy these with me in mind. You should have realized by now that he can explain anything but himself well. He might not say that he loves me, but he shows it often enough. I might end up having to ask him to marry me, but I’m sure he’ll agree to it.” That was where the recordings decided to end.

“I think that’s a cool gift,” Precis said. “Especially if you wanted them.”

“I didn’t know I wanted them until I got them,” Opera said happily. “I know I should talk to him at some point about our future, but he gets uncomfortable about it. I keep hoping that he’ll bring it up on his own sometime.”

“I dunno what to do about that; I never had a boyfriend. But what was the rest of that about? Weapons?”

“It seems like it,” Opera said. “It was hard to tell from the angle, but that device you tried to work on, I think that was a gun of some kind. Those don’t exist on Expel yet; I thought mine and Ern’s were the first one that have been there, but maybe not. That really isn’t something you should work on without knowing what it is, or what it’s capable of. They’re deadly.”

“Oh, that makes sense now,” Precis said.

“Weapons are dangerous in the hands of those who don’t understand them,” someone else said. A winged woman appeared in the doorway that went on. “I’ve got a question for you: is intelligence dangerous or not?”

“Well I guess you can make weapons with intelligence, but you should be able to figure out the best way to use them with intelligence too,” Precis said.

“Intelligence is dangerous in many ways, even in ways you don’t expect,” Opera said. “But ignorance it can be more dangerous, and intelligence can lead to the solution to dangers. Ignorance can’t give solutions.”

The winged woman nodded. “That’s a good answer. I’m Issette, the guardian of the trial of intelligence. You did well, I just thought there were some things you should both know. Oh, and your reward,” she stepped into the room and gestured to the next one. “I can modify time a little. When you enter that room, you’ll spend five hours when only five minutes past in truth. Do what you wish there. When the five minutes and hours are up, you’ll need to go to the other side to see if the others need help with the last puzzle on their side.”

“Huh, what can we do there?” Precis said, heading on through. Opera followed and found that it was a room like all the rest, filled with abandoned machinery. Only, there were more whole and readily functional pieces, and the whole room was bigger. Precis soon ran off to something. “Hey, I think I can build that thing here! And it helps to have extra time; I might actually finish.”

“You’ll definitely finish with me helping out,” Opera said, grinning along with her. “This is gonna be fun.”

An hourglass much like the one Dreampeace used was in the center of the room, showing how much time they had left in this altered-time space. They were able to find lots of tools and parts, even a few that Opera had to talk Precis out of using because they required more training to use than five hours would give them. But she, or even Bobot for a couple, could use those tools to make the build go by quicker and better. There was even some extra time to fix up a couple of smaller devices that they found in the room, which would be helpful as well.

Once the hourglass’s top was empty, Issette showed up again and transported them to the other side of the trial. They found themselves on the larger platform. In the center, there was a large machine with three arms, each with a different huge weapon: one a beam cannon, one a poison gas bomb producer, and the last a flamethrower. In lines stretched out from the central machine, there were many small spherical machines. And, many of them were broken from the group’s attack.

“Looks as though they’ve figured it out,” Issette said. “Each of the sphere contains a weapon or shield program for the central machine. The programs must be taken out strategically to neutralize the central machine, or else it will be untouchable and able to use its weapons anywhere on the platform. Not only that, but they’ve all been able to answer at least one question in the quizzes below.”

“Of course,” Precis said. “We’re all smart, even if we’re smart about different things.”

“That’s what makes things interesting,” Opera said.

Issette nodded. “Indeed.”

Across the room, Leon called out, “That last barrier just needs something really strong to punch through it. I think I could, but…”

“We’ve got it if you get away from that thing!” Opera shouted over at them. Then she winked at Precis. “Go for it.”

“Yeah, Bobot transform!” Precis shouted, jumping in place.

With a happy whistle, the small planetary scout robot caused space to warp around him. He vanished briefly, only to return as an eight foot tall robot with a pilot’s seat on back. Precis jumped into the cockpit and sent Bobot charging forward with a giant drill to attack the last magical barrier the war machine had up. All around them, sparks flew in wild looking patterns. Once the shield shattered, Precis caused Bobot to jump back and fire an alpha-rated plasma beam cannon at the war machine. It started to smoke, its poison bomb arm going entirely broken.

“What in heaven’s name is that?” Rena called, surprised to see a machine like what Bobot transformed into.

“Iiiiit’s Super Bobot!” Precis shouted gleefully. “That’s what was on the papers Welch gave me.”

“Now you’re terrifying,” Dias said, much to Opera’s amusement. The rest of the war machine went down quickly, as most of its program spheres were defunct.

Once the war machine as down, Precis got off Super Bobot and had him turn back into normal Bobot. “That’s good, I don’t want you getting pooped from staying like that too long.”

“I’m pleased you could pull that together in the time I gave you,” Issette said. “Just remember what we talked about.”

“Sure, but I gotta use him to smash up the Ten Wise Men,” Precis said.

“You all did well in passing my trial,” the guardian said. “Carry on to the next or take a break, whichever you wish. May you fare well in your mission.” She then vanished.

“That’s been the only really tough fight so far,” Claude said, looking over everyone. “How’re all of you doing?”

“We just spent five hours in five minutes, but I think we’re good to go for one more trial,” Precis said.

Opera had to hurry over to get to the rest of the group, but she agreed. “I think I could get through one more, depending on what it takes. We can always go in and check it out; there might be one of those signs near the entrance like this one.”

“We should at least see what comes, and hope we can get out for a break before the guardian takes people away,” Rena said.

“I’m fine with that,” Ernest said, along with some others. He smiled when she came straight over to him. “So how was it on the other side?”

“We saw some interesting things,” Opera said, passing him one of the items she had made. “Made some neat things too. You said you wanted a lightning adapter? There you go, have fun.”

“Nice, thank you.” Ernest latched it onto his whip handle; as she thought, it fit perfectly. “Make anything for yourself?”

“Nah, I’m happy to help out you and Precis.”

It seemed that they all agreed to at least see what was coming, so they headed for the exit to enter the next trial.

* * *

 

-4D, Penny

Penny wondered for a moment why the game kicked her off, but the screen had a reminder that her class was going to start in five minutes. Right, still had to be in class. Her teacher had sent her a message wondering why she hadn’t been excused because of the Expel event, but she’d gone ahead and told her that Precis hadn’t died during the tragedy. Thus, it wasn’t right to skip out on class because of it.

Her mother came out of immersion as Penny was almost out of the room. “You’ve got your class now, don’t you?” Nancy asked. “Good thing we finished that trial event in time.”

She nodded. “Yeah, that was lucky. But that was a really cool thing we got to do! I just wish the puzzles had been harder.”

Laughing, Nancy got out of her chair and left the room with her. “Right, that last one was fun because it had some thought needed. The rest of them should’ve been like that. At least I got to learn some interesting things about Opera, like it’s been about twelve years that she’s known Ernest.”

“Well now that you have her, maybe she’ll get her wish,” Penny said, smiling at the thought. “But that one scene where we saw Cyril and Indalecio talking, that was kind of creepy. Did he really mean us when he mentioned it might even be so on the other side?”

“I’m not sure if we could know that now,” Nancy said, then paused in the hallway. “Although… why was I getting off too?”


	39. The Trial of Courage

-Energy Nede, Chisato

Recalling stories from her student days, Chisato told the others that the field of courage is where many of the attempts to pass this trial stopped. The Trials of Hope and Intelligence were easy enough for most, but there were many stories of people who’d gotten lost for days here. One of her classmates had even used the rune codes to warp out when he finally solved the initial puzzle, only to find out that it had reset when he did so. “But apparently it can be solved quickly too,” she said. “I suppose it depends on how you react to the field.”

“Then what are we supposed to do here?” Claude asked.

As opposed to the created look of the Field of Intelligence, the Field of Courage appeared as though it had simply been placed in a natural cavern. It was quite a colorful place, with blue and green stones making up the walls and multicolored crystals spread all around giving light to the cave tunnels. The trouble was that there were five different tunnels to pick from in this one room, not including the one that had brought them here. While there was a stone slab with the rune codes on it right there, it was not as much help as the intelligence once had been: ‘Set off with Courage, driving on through the unknown. Make your way forward.’

Chisato shrugged. “They wouldn’t say, but it has something to do with small statues. One thing I do know is that the reason people got hopelessly lost in here is because there are enchantments on every tunnel entrance. They mix up the ways so you don’t know where exactly you’ll come out. The sign may say to move forward, but in order to get to the room straight ahead of the entrance, you might need to take the tunnel to the left. Or even go back the way you came, since it won’t lead the same way. Apparently identification spells won’t always pick up the enchantments or where they lead.”

“Oh, so a map wouldn’t even help,” Rena said, puzzled about how to get through.

“This place is unnerving,” Leon said.

“There’s a great many monsters in these caves, that’s probably what you’re hearing,” Noel said. “They’re artificial constructs too, meant to always be here to challenge those on the trials. But the enchantment maze shouldn’t be a problem for you. Listen to the stream.”

“What about it?” he asked, looking down at the small thread of water winding its way down the tunnels.

Noel closed his eyes. “Which ways should it be flowing? If the transition sounds unnatural, then it’s probably the wrong way. The air and the rocks tell me the same thing, but I want to see if you can do this. It’s good practice.”

“That makes sense,” Leon said, impressed.

“Guess that means we don’t risk as much to getting lost,” Claude said. “Let’s go ahead and try this one out. Unless anyone has objections?”

“Nah, I can handle another trial,” Chisato said. And right as she did, those colored sparkles whirled around her and transported her to the back side of this trial. “Welp, guess we’re taking this trial anyhow.”

“At least it was nice enough to let us discuss it before spiriting us off,” Ernest said, looking around the room they ended up in. “Courage, huh? I remember one time when I was asked to prove my courage in a ruins and it wanted me to jump off a ledge into a pit of spikes. Only, the spikes were illusions meant to keep people from going down there after treasure.”

“And you jumped in?” Chisato asked.

He nodded. “Of course… after I tossed a stick down there and saw that it passed right through the illusionary spikes. I’m not afraid to prove my courage, but I’m not stupid either.”

She laughed, “Right. Let’s see what we’ve got in exchange for the twisted passages puzzle.”

“In a way, I’m glad that I don’t have to deal with that,” Ernest said, heading over to a slab that was in the corner of the room.

Pausing a moment, Chisato looked down at the floor. The outer edge of it was stone, but in the center there were spotless white ceramic tiles, with strips of gold to divide them up into sixteen even squares. One room, off in the top right corner, had a star engraved on it. That probably was a clue. Or a map; she realized that when she looked at the stone slab. ‘Set off with Courage, driving on through the unknown. Make your way to the exit while passing through each room once and only once. If you reach the exit while missing a room on your path, the exit will be sealed. If you enter a room after passing through it already, a powerful foe will await you. It cannot be defeated until the puzzle is solved. If you need to reset the puzzle to start a new path, return to this room and press this button.’

“This could be very easy or a pain in the rear,” Ernest said, thinking. He pulled a notebook and pen out of his coat pocket.

“I think the diagram on the floor is a map of this puzzle,” Chisato said. “Then we’ve got sixteen rooms to pass through. The one with the star must be the exit, since it can’t be this room.” The corner rooms should have only two entrances, but this room had four. Thus, the entrance had to be in the middle somewhere.”

“It could be the star, but I doubt it because of the number of doors,” he said. “Seems like the best way is to plunge on in and run from the invincible boss a few times; we don’t have enough information to avoid it yet.”

She agreed, so after some thought and checking a compass (for purposes of map drawing), they decided to leave through the south exit. That led them to a three way hall, from the entrance they came in to exits in the east and west. Heading east got them into what seemed to be a corner room with a west and north exit. But heading around this western edge, they found no exit east to the room north of the entrance. The room that hall led to was another corner, south and west this time, so it gave them an idea of where they were.

In that corner, something new happened. There was a flickering of the air, then the corner room vanished. Instead, they were in a classroom of Giveaway University, along with ghosts of herself and some of her classmates. “Wait, what’s this?”

Things shifted so that they were now the ghosts, and the others were real. “I think we need to see this,” Ernest said.

Chisato’s younger self was excited. “This is going to be an awesome trip, guys! Snowboarding is sure to be loads of fun.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” a male classmate said. “Seems too fast for being on a piece of board.”

“You think the express ferry is too fast,” she teased him.

He blushed. “Well it is. I can’t stop worrying on it; much better just to be patient and wait on the relaxing ferries.”

“At least the express ferry lets you have safety belts,” a female classmate said. “Snowboarding only has those feet straps to keep it on! What happens if you break some bones and have to wait on people to get up to you to help?”

“Why’re you worrying about breaking bones?” Chisato asked. “It’s no big deal; I’ve had broken bones before and once you get into a healer’s care, it’s not so bad.”

“I’d rather avoid the pain,” she said.

“I hear some of the slopes are near the field of power… I mean strength, that one,” another male classmate said.

“There might be monsters on the slopes too?” the other male classmate said, fearful.

“Not unless the guardian is asleep on the job,” Chisato said. “That would just be some extra excitement on the trip.” At the wary looks of her classmates, she frowned and put a hand on her hip. “Aw come on, we could handle a monster or two. You guys all know magic and I can punch them silly. It’ll be no problem! Maybe we could even sneak into the field to peek in on what you’ll be doing.”

“I really don’t want to get hurt on my vacation.”

“Yeah, and I don’t think you can get into the field from that point. The magic shields and barriers would keep you out.”

“Well then why are you worried about stray monsters if those barriers are in place?” Chisato asked, annoyed. Then they quickly faded away, leaving her and Ernest back in the corner room.

“They seem excessively worried to me,” Ernest said. “I would have loved some natural mountains to ski or board on when I was a teenager.”

“Attitudes like theirs are unfortunately common around Energy Nede,” she said. “I know now that the only reason they keep those ski slopes open is because it’s a few jobs to keep people employed and enough people are interested in sledding on short slopes to keep them going. On the other hand, those who actually want to ski or snowboard like me are different.”

“No wonder they can’t get far in the trials then,” he said, then checked on his notebook. “Well we know where we are in the puzzle now, but if not all of the doors will be open, we should hit every room to find the layout. Loop around the outside?”

“Sure.” And they headed off.

This plan led to some trouble when they came to the room west of the exit and didn’t find a way into that room. It could only be entered from the south. Another bad layout ended up taking them back to the room south of the entrance. Right as they entered that three way hall, a large purple and blue beast dropped through the ceiling onto the intersection. It looked like a panther with an ox’s long horns angled back on its head and some black spikes along its spine. Nearly filling up the narrow halls, it didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver. Chisato took a step back, but found that the door had sealed right behind them.

“Want to find out how invincible it is?” Chisato asked, smiling as she prepared a heraldic device she’d taken. Once she hurled it, it turned into a giant skull that spewed a toxic green gas at the beast. The panther roared before sending its own breath attack at the skull, one that looked like violet flames. The gas skull soon reverted to its inactive state and returned to her.

“Could be a tough one,” Ernest said, snapping his whip at it. Now that it had been unsealed from its locked form, his whip was no longer made of a visible leather-like material. Instead, it was a barely visible wire that sometimes flickered in the air like a momentary reflective shine. It had a high-pitched snap and Chisato found herself wondering how he knew where he was attacking with it. Still, it reached across thirty feet of hallway to slice into the beast’s face. The wound healed up immediately. “Huh. Well let’s trust Opera’s work and see about getting it stunned to run past.” He flicked a dial on the whip’s handle and attacked again.

This time, a bolt of lighting snapped between Ernest and the beast, knocking the latter back a few feet and causing it to growl. Chisato didn’t even wait to see if it was enough time and rushed for the north hallway to get to the entrance and reset the puzzle. Ernest was right after her and thankfully the beast didn’t pursue them into the entrance.

Chisato hit the button, only to see one of those flickers again. This time, it gave them a place that was unfamiliar to her. It was some kind of bar or smoker’s lounge, given the game tables, couches around tables, the wait staff (mostly waitresses in sexy attire) and smokey air. There was quite a variety of beings here, but the majority seemed to be the three-eyed humanoids like Ernest.

The past version of Ernest was there too, smoking with a few others. “It probably will be boring, but I don’t think I should skip out on it. Opera’s gotten her history masters now and I should be there to support her.”

“Then is she your girl or not?” one of his friends asked. “You don’t seem that enthused.”

“Mostly the party afterwards with her family,” Ernest said. “Those people… they’ll act like the slightest misstep in manners is a crime. I don’t want to have to worry about exactly how I’m eating on top of stress from dealing with the snobbier Vectras.”

“What about her?” his friend asked again.

Ernest shrugged. “I’m not sure. She’s the most tolerable of the bunch and she’s helped me out a lot. And I don’t want to get her father mad, not after he’s sponsored some of my archaeology trips.”

His friend shook his head. “Hey now, don’t be wishy-washy on this. It is nice that you’ve got connections to the Vectras, but you really want to be tied down to them? What happened to our group being the wandering adventurers, going to explore the far reaches of the galaxy without any wives to keep us tied to home?”

“Wasn’t going to happen after he got married,” one of the other guys said, pointing to another member of the group who laughed at them.

“Well I’ve been out on more adventures than the rest of you,” Ernest said, smirking. But that didn’t last long. “She’d come with me… heck, she already does most of the time now. Just not sure what to think of her lately.”

“Forget about her; I don’t think the money is worth being among the snobs of elite society who wouldn’t dare soil their fine clothes walking on natural land.”

“No, I don’t think you’ll come that close to someone like her again,” his married friend said. “You two always seem to get along great when I see you together. I’m sure if you think about it, you won't want to let her go.”

“Well it’s not like I need a girlfriend,” Ernest said, rubbing his head. “But she, well…” and it ended there.

“That’s not what I was expecting to see,” Ernest said, distracted briefly from the puzzle.

“I’m not sure how that connects to courage,” Chisato said. “Anyhow, we’ve just got to check on the layouts of the rooms north and east of this one, right? It shouldn’t be hard to walk in, take notes, then come back in here and hit he button. That beast shouldn’t even show up.”

He nodded. “Right, and we can figure out the best path from there.”

It really was as simple as that. Now that they knew where the entrance room sat in the configuration and what paths were blocked off, finding one path through all sixteen rooms was no trouble. Then they had to face the violet beast again in the room with the exit. This room had more open space for it to run around in. And it was quick, dashing around in quick spurts to claw or bite them. While it was keeping the damage it took now, Chisato wasn’t able to do much to its tough hide. Instead, she kept its attention and kept away from it, giving Ernest more strikes at it from a distance with his whip. It eventually picked up on her trickery and focused on him, so she had to release her skull weapon again to distract it.

After a couple minutes, the beast dissolved into smoke. But the smoke didn’t leave. Instead, it reformed into the beast again, whole and unhurt. It roared and the whole room shimmered, bringing a rather disoriented vision to them. It started with Ernest walking with Opera in a festival setting. “Well I got into a real problem with this last trip,” Ernest said. “The ruins looked so simple, but the enchantments on it kept multiplying the rooms, at least it felt that way.”

“Yeah, it didn’t help that ninety percent of them looked exactly the same,” Opera said, nodding.

“But we got out of it; I think I’ll leave that one to someone who knows how to deal with it.”

Then it jumped to Chisato in the mayor’s office. Narl and the lead editor were there with her. “You had no right to go publishing that piece without letting us know you were releasing that information,” Narl said harshly.

“But nearly everyone is emotionally attached to the Expel stories,” Chisato argued. “What right do you have to keep the truth from them?”

The editor meekly said, “This isn’t about the truth; it’s about preventing mass panic. We’re a closed off world, there isn’t a lot we can do about problems on other planets.”

“Well how were you planning on hiding the fact that we’re going to crash into another world, huh? You can see Expel’s shadow in the sky now if you know what you’re looking for. Or do you have plans for stopping the Ten Wise Men from doing that?”

“We’re working on it,” Narl said. “But we weren’t ready to let everyone know what’s going on.”

The next shift was to Jibril and the angelic girl who had been at the Fienal Plaza battle. She was taking off a hooded cloak to reveal her wings. “I-I just wanted to go out, um, that’s it.”

“And I told you, it’s too dangerous for you to be out of the tower,” Jibril said. “Especially with the more trigger happy guys paying attention to that place. Indalecio wants you here.”

“Er, well…” she looked down, nervously brushing a foot on the floor.

Jibril moved along the floor in a smooth movement, like he had no legs and glided along through some other method. “It’s not much use warning those people either. None of them believed you; that’s just how the universe is everywhere. Just be patient with the rest of us and things will be as they should.” Then he left her alone in the pretty room he’d taken her to.

The angelic girl walked over to the window and looked out. “How long has it been since I lived? And why did you bring me back just to end it all? I wish I could tell you…”

Then the scene moved back to Chisato in Narl’s office. She had her arms crossed over her chest as she stood in front of the mayor’s large desk. “You all told me to report what was going on on Expel and I have. It just so happens that we’re going to crash into it. I hope you all do have a plan to prevent it.”

“We’re working on it, but the public didn’t need to know about it yet,” Narl said. “They especially didn’t need to hear about the Ten Wise Men again. You’ve undermined everyone’s feeling of security by releasing this information and now we’re going to have all sorts of unrest from people feeling helpless. It’s my job to maintain the peace and order of Energy Nede, and to act against any who would threaten it.”

“Then you’re just going to lie to your people?!” she said angrily. “What use is peace if it’s built on lies? Especially about the Ten Wise Men; you just want to keep everyone sedated with false peace, but whatever they do is going to end up affecting us. They might feel secure, but then those crazies will show up and slaughter them all. People should be warned so that everyone can make adequate preparations, not just your government.”

“It’s people like you who ruined Nede before,” Narl said.

The scene then jumped back to Ernest and Opera. “That might have been the end of me if you hadn’t shown up with extra supplies and more hints on how we might get out of there,” he said, not quite looking at her. “I really shouldn’t rely on you for that, but you do come through for me, and, uh…”

“I don’t mind helping you,” Opera said, smiling brightly.

“Yeah, thanks, I just,” he scratched his head.

After an awkward silence, Opera got a mischievous look in her eyes as she grabbed his upper arm. “Hey, so you know how the archaeology club was going to make a hunted house ruins kind of thing? I’m sure you must have seen their plans; any ideas on how we can sneak in and scare them silly?”

Ernest quickly grinned at that. “Yeah, sure, they thought they were getting clever but between the two of us, it’s going to be a breeze. Can we go by your office to pick up some masks?”

And the visions ended, leaving Chisato and Ernest with the large violet beast. It snorted, then clearly said, “You’d jump right into a pit of spikes but can’t tell a woman you love her?”

Ernest turned pink at that. “Ah, yes…. Well the spikes would only hurt once if I was wrong. Her family could make life a living hell for me every single day if they were of mind to.”

“I guess there are different forms of courage then,” Chisato said, amused at this.

“There’s also a difference between courage and brazen recklessness,” the beast said to her. “Although I could be more forgiving in your case. Modern Nedians are so comfortable where they are that it does take a good scare to get them into action, present company excluded. But even when you have courage, it doesn’t matter if it’s your only value with nothing to back it.”

“It’s not,” she said. “Narl keeps telling me that I don’t have the authority to do what I do much of the time, but I think it’s more important to let people know what’s going on.”

“We did use more intelligence and logic than courage to solve your puzzle,” Ernest said to it, holding up his notebook with his map.

It snorted again. “You ought to see the amount of people who would rather give up than face something said to be invincible. Very well, you’ve passed my trial for the most part.”

“For the most part?” Chisato asked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re fine,” it said, then looked at Ernest. “Well? You’re going to be fighting against people who’ve caused massacres that covered entire planets. When you beat them, then nobody will have any right to harass you for being who you are. Even if they don’t know that, you will, as will she.”

“All right, I’ll talk with her,” Ernest said. “I keep thinking I should, but things seemed to be trucking right along.”

“They were talking about taking a break from the trials anyhow,” Chisato said. “I don’t think they’ll argue with us if we say we want to stop for a day or so.”

“Good,” the beast said. “I’ll decide if you’re suitable when you return. For now, go ahead and take the three treasures by the stairs. They’ll help you out.” The beast then dissolved into smoke again, this time moving up into the ceiling and vanishing.

“What a weird guardian,” Chisato said. “Didn’t even give us a name.”

“It might not think that’s important,” Ernest said.

The stairs in the back of the exit room went up into black smoke much like what the beast had turned into. At its base, there were three treasure chests. The first one Chisato opened held something that made her excited: a gun much like the stun gun she carried, but one that was an actual weapon as opposed to something to incapacitate a foe before running. It appeared to have a strong electric element, which mean she should be able to shoot lightning bolts around with Ernest.

The one Ernest opened held an odd device that was flat and almost like an overlarge data disk. “It’s a plasma pack for rifles like Opera has,” he explained. “This is a rare one too; the company never made a lot of white system packs. It turns the rifle into a healing machine, albeit one that can’t handle severe injuries like broken bones.”

“Well anything that can help us keep up healing on our side to match theirs is great for us,” Chisato said, opening the third chest. It had something very different in it, and odd. It was a pair of pink boots with cute bunny pictures on the sides.

Ernest raised his eyebrows at that. “That’s supposed to help us?”

“Hey, they might be enchanted,” she said, smiling. “I think they’re adorable! Well if you don’t want them, I’ll take them. I think they might even be my size, although I should go back to my place to get an outfit to go with them.”

He laughed. “Well if we are going to take a break, why not? I hope they do have some kind of enchantment, but I’ll pass if any more turn up.”

They headed up the stairs, finding nothing keeping them from passing through the smoke. Once they were up on the upper floor, the smoke vanished and turned back to solid rock. There was a stone slab next to a hefty wooden door, but the slab only had the rune codes on it. Chisato figured it was the exit, which was quickly proven when the rest of their group came through one of the tunnels. “Hey, you’re already done?” Rena said, smiling.

“Mostly,” Chisato said. “How about you guys?”

“That was another really lame puzzle,” Precis said. “We just had to move a bust from one stand to another; I don’t see why anyone would have trouble getting past this, even though we had extra help avoiding the maze. Oh, but then there was a really awesome bot versus bot battle that you guys missed! And everyone else was awesome too, cause the robots couldn’t stop us.”

“They looked really tough, being all metal,” Ashton said. “But once they got damaged, they were pretty much finished. What did you guys do?”

“We beat a simple logic puzzle and a weird beast for some adorable boots,” Chisato said. “It was pretty fun. Oh, but we have been through three trials now and you all had to fight robots. How about we take a break here? I could go for a good meal, and a visit back to my place for something.”

“Yeah, I’m sure Bobot needs to recharge too,” Precis said, nodding.

“All right, then I hope the ferry did wait on us,” Claude said, taking the rune codes up to the sign.

“Thanks for that,” Ernest said to Chisato quietly, then went over to Opera. “Well I didn’t make this, but I picked something up to help you out too.”

Chisato grinned. Now she just had to make sure the rest were distracted with other things to give those two a moment alone. That shouldn’t be too hard, as long as she moved quick.

* * *

 

-4D, chatroom

CJ*: Well now I feel bad about conflicting with Ernest and Opera’s relationship.

Jeb*: I’m not sure it was entirely our reluctance, but it probably didn’t help.

CJ*: At least she’s in your wife’s hands now, so that won’t hold them back anymore.

CJ*: Although I’ve been thinking about what Enlo’s been talking about.

Jeb*: That deal where he believes they’re capable of being acknowledged as independent beings?

CJ*: Yeah. Because those two were drawn together even when we didn’t want to play through that. Makes me wonder if we are more like guardian angels… but then how much do we really do for them? Immersion puts our mind in theirs and we can only think faintly of what our goals are.

Jeb*: I haven’t really thought of that. Although, Penny and Nancy apparently saw something interesting during their trial with Precis and Opera.

Jeb*: It seems like Indalecio may be aware of us at least. He mentioned those on the other side, but dismissively.

CJ*: Enlo tells me that Leon and Noel are kind of aware of the players, but they can’t really contact us. Maybe Indalecio is. But then, he’s a really old character, isn’t he?

Jeb*: Somebody like Blair might know better. We should ask her about it.


	40. Starship Calnus

-Energy Nede, L’Aqua, Opera

The plasma proton pack that Ernest have given her was a puzzle. It was easy enough to explain the lightning pack that Opera had given him for his whip because she had made it. While the parts were luckily the right size, she hadn’t thought too much of it when she adapted the machinery to work for him. But this pack was perfectly made for her rifle even though Ernest was not adept in machinery. At least, modern Tetragenes machinery, he seemed to do alright with ancient inexplicable machines inside ruins (for the most part; there were some amusing stories otherwise). What was this doing here on Energy Nede, which had been cut off from the rest of the galaxy for hundreds of trillions of years? It made her wonder about the ‘luck’ that had given her parts of just the right size and shape to add to his weapon.

“Maybe the guardians can configure things like this with their gifts,” Opera said, giving up on wondering for now and installing the pack into her rifle. This was a valuable addition to their strategy, since it adapted the weapon-grade plasma into heraldic energy to mimic a healing spell that should hit any of her allies within range. And since the range depending more on the weapon’s capacity than her own, it should work over the whole group even in spread out battles like that of Fienal Plaza. That would free up their two healers into being able to focus on status fixes, stronger healings, blessings, or even attack spells of their own instead of having to heal constantly.

“Hey Opera, want to go walk around outside for a little while?” Ernest asked, coming over to her. “If you’re not tired yet.”

“Maybe for a little while,” she said, putting her weapon away. Most of the Nedians acted nervous around their weapons even if they were just doing maintenance on them. “I have had a longer day than most of the rest of you; the intelligence guardian gave us five minutes expanded into five hours to work on Precis’ scout bot.”

“Yeah, I think she headed off to sleep already,” he said. “At least she’s found something to be really happy about.”

Opera chuckled as she headed towards the main entrance with him. “Oh, you should have seen her down there, eyes sparkling and bouncing all over the place. It was great.”

The island that L’Aqua was on was quite lovely, having the appearance of a tropical island with the building they were staying in as the sole manmade structure. Its purpose was ambiguous, since it seemed to be a port, shipyard, aquarium, possibly a marine lab, and the NDF headquarters all in one. But the island itself could be a quiet get-away from society if one got to parts of the islands where the building and its pathways weren’t visible. There was a cluster of tropical trees and flowers that did that well for several of the lovely sandy beaches down by the ocean. But although it seemed like that would make it popular, this evening it was practically empty save for the two of them.

“On any other planet, this place would be packed,” Opera said, taking off her shoes since they weren’t the best to walk on sand in. “Maybe it’s just the time we came.”

“Maybe, or maybe not,” Ernest said. “Chisato talked about how few people here are adventurous; most prefer to do safe things. Still, this place has been around so long and all this looks practically undeveloped.”

Opera thought it over. “They might like that. I mean, they’re supposed to be even more advanced than us since their ancestors built this planet. I’m used to studying primitive and developing civilizations, but there are many ideas out there of history being cyclical or spiral-like. Perhaps when you get this far ahead, you start longing to get so far back.”

“That would be seen as crazy on Tetragenes,” Ernest said, smiling. “Could you imagine it? Putting together a proposal to lock off a section of the surface, knocking down everything there, and then cultivating a jungle in its place and restricting all access and use of it?”

She laughed. “Oh wow, that would cause so much shock and arguing. But you know, it might be possible. It’s been long enough since the wars that made the surface unlivable and we’ve seen that portions of it are reverting back to nature. It’s to be seen if we have the technology to completely turn back time though. Still, it might be nice.”

“If anyone could pull it off, it’d be your family,” Ernest said. “Since you’d have to make all the real estate, legislative, and ecological deals.”

“That’s something to dream about, at least,” she said. “Maybe you could even get some support from Earth, since their world still has some wildlife preserves and they’d be all behind it.”

“I don’t know if it’d be on Nede’s level, since they’re talking about moving a whole planet out of time in order to save it. I feel kind of sorry for those on Expel having to deal with the paradoxes that’s sure to create. Nobody’s going to be sure what time it is for a while and who knows how much the people will remember.”

“But they will be alive, that’s the important thing.”

He nodded. “Right. Although, this all depends on us defeating those mad men at Fienal Tower. I think we’ve improved our chances a great deal already, but still, this could still end badly for any of us.”

“And our homeworld isn’t even involved in this,” Opera said. Then she shrugged. “But what does that matter? Expel was never given a chance, so we have to make a new one for them. I’m sure even the Ten Wise Men wouldn’t be able to get through the Pangalactic Federation easily, including Tetragenes. The entirety of Expel was an innocent victim in this conflict; we can’t stand for leaving that be when there’s a chance it can be reversed, no matter what troubles it causes.”

“That’s true,” Ernest said, rubbing his head. “I was thinking of other things, though. We risking a lot so others have a chance, so Opera, I wanted to say, thanks for always being there for me, even when I rush off without thinking.”

“It’s no problem,” she said, taking his arm. “I love doing that; life’s never dull with you constantly causing trouble.”

He laughed. “I hope I’m not that much trouble.”

“My favorite kind of trouble,” she said, grinning. “Hey, want to go take off to one of the other towns? I still want to see how these people live before we have to leave them.”

“Weren’t you going to rest after a long day?” Ernest reminded her. “And you always interrupt me, seems like…”

“Well it’s because I see how uncomfortable you get trying to say that you love me, so I decided years ago to save you the effort,” she said.

His reaction to that was completely worth saying that outright this time, as he stopped in place and turned pink. “Ah, what?”

Opera chuckled and turned to him. “Well it’s true, isn’t it? I know you just as well as you know me.”

“I guess so,” Ernest said, smiling sheepishly. “I just wanted to say that I love you and I hope we both get through this.”

Even though she already knew that, it still delighted her to hear it from him. “Aw, I do too. That I love you and want to see through to the end of this with you. So, you still want to sneak off to another town?”

“For what?”

* * *

 

-L’Aqua, Chisato

Last evening, she had written up a quick piece on her involvement in the Ten Wise Men’s invasion and the Expellians’ efforts to fight against them. A little bit about the Fienal Plaza battle (the press already had several official reports from those who’d watched and examined from afar), some about her new companions, and some about the seven trials. She’d even slipped in an opinion that the Field of Courage was not nearly as troubling as it was rumored to be as long as one believed in oneself. That caused a lot of mixed reactions to her articles, from those who were mad about her not having trouble to those who questioned why courage should be difficult for one who agreed to take the seven trials.

“But the trouble’s needed,” she said with a slight smile at her editor’s private post of exasperation at her as usual. But he did give some encouragement for going through it for a greater purpose, so that was nice.

“Hey Chisato?” Rena came into the room she was using. “Have you seen Opera or Ernest? We shouldn’t really go back without them, but we can’t seem to find them this morning.”

“Energy Nede isn’t that big, so they can’t have gone far,” she said. “I wouldn’t worry about them. Besides, all of you have been through a lot these past few days. I think taking a few extra hours off wouldn’t be so bad for you.”

“Maybe,” Rena said, rubbing her arm and seeming unsure. “I just want all this to be over with. And it would have been nice if they left us a note so we knew.”

“It could have helped,” Chisato said, signing off the computer and getting up. “Hey, did you see the aquarium below here? They’ve got some places like the Trial of Hope that go under the oceans to see the reefs and ocean life. Sometimes you even see the herush herd.”

“What’s a herush?” Rena asked.

“They’re a kind of whale, but they’re artificially produced for a particular purpose here,” she explained, coming out of the room and leading Rena to the aquarium halls. “We have a fair sized ocean, but it’s not large enough to support an actual population of herush.”

“How do you produce an animal?” she asked, curious enough by this that she forgot about Opera and Ernest being gone, for a brief time at least.

“We’ve got the science and magic to do so for many of the animals here,” Chisato explained. “Some populations can support themselves with what we have, but others can’t. And actually, a lot of Nedians aren’t born as your world knows it. These days, not many of us ladies can actually bear children and we have to use other means to keep Energy Nede’s population stable.”

“That’s sad that you can’t have children if you wanted,” Rena said. The idea must have been very foreign to her.

“Well technically I could; I just haven’t wanted to,” Chisato said. “But that’s not important for now. I’m helping you out because I want to. I’m just glad nobody’s tried to argue with me on that.”

They got down to the aquarium level and found that Claude was already there, looking down one of the halls in concern. Seeing them, he waved them over. “Hey, come here a moment,” in a hushed voice.

“What is it?” Rena asked, worried because he was.

Claude pointed down to where another visitor was in the aquarium area, a young woman in a pink and lavender cloak. That seemed familiar, but Chisato couldn’t think of who she might be right off. “That girl over there, doesn’t she remind you of the one we saw in Clik? The one who gave you Mischief in the first place.”

“Oh yeah, she does,” Rena said quietly. “And wasn’t it a couple of the Wise Men we saw there too?”

“That’s Filia,” Noel said, in a low voice somewhere behind them.

Chisato yelped and jumped around, barely keeping herself from smacking him for appearing on the stairs not far from her and Rena. “Noel! Geez, don’t sneak up on me.”

He did smile briefly at that, which was nice to see on him. “I didn’t mean to,” he said in his usual dead calm.

“I don’t think I even saw you and I was looking that way,” Claude said, amused by this. Although he did glance over to see if they scared the girl away.

They hadn’t. She even came over to them. “Er, hello again,” she said. “I see you still have my bracelet; it looks a lot nicer now.”

“Oh yes, thanks for giving it to me,” Rena said, smiling warmly even if they’d been talking of Filia being involved with the Ten Wise Men. “It caused a little bit of trouble, but was more help than that.”

Filia nodded, putting her hood down to show her blue hair. “Yes, it’s like that. I, um, I worked on it for a long time, putting a lot of wishes into it, but I never could have finished it. It’s, um, nice to see it in its final form. So, do you know who I am?”

“Filia?” Rena asked, glancing at Noel.

“The daughter of Dr. Lantis, the one who made the Ten Wise Men,” Noel said. “You ended up killed in the wars and it drove him mad with despair, enough to bring you back to life by putting your mind and soul into a false body, that of the group’s healer.”

“Yeah,” Filia said sadly, her eyes watery. She rubbed at them. “I don’t know if you can call this life, though. Never sure if I’m dead or alive, or if I’m real or a dream. Father isn’t who he was; his mind and heart were in pieces when he put himself into Indalecio and the process made sure that he could never be whole again. I have to do what he wants whenever he’s around, but sometimes he gets absorbed in work and I can go away on my own… oh, I’m sorry!” She sniffled, putting her hands over her face.

“If you’re not in control of yourself, I don’t think you can be blamed for what goes on,” Claude said, looking uncomfortable at her outburst and trying to make her feel better.

“Then I’m sorry for not being strong enough to do more, be myself anymore,” Filia said, still depressed. “I wanted to be. Father wants to destroy everything; I’m barely aware of myself sometimes, but seeing things like these fish… it’s horrible he won’t even look at the smallest wonders. But then Cyril and some others want to subjugate the universe instead, putting everyone in a state of war and chaos to keep things interesting for them. Both of them need to be stopped, but they won’t let me protest and only keep me around because I have the best healing powers now. I can’t heal my father’s heart, though. I tried.”

“Well, can you get far enough away from them that they can’t control you?” Rena asked. “You managed to come here.”

She shook her head. “I’ve tried ever since we were released. But they’ll notice that I’m gone again soon, and Father will either send someone to fetch me or order me to return himself. I can’t escape him… well, almost can’t. You won’t be able to go to the trials today. In a couple of hours, Cyril’s going to do something terrible; that’s why I’m sorry to you. And Mr. Chandler, I’m really sorry; I tried to help them both get away, but I was being watched and she was already badly hurt and he wouldn’t let me heal her.”

Rena and Claude seemed puzzled, but Chisato knew what Filia meant. Noel nodded slowly. “It’s… you did what you could. And one of them came back to me, which is more than I hoped for.”

Clutching a hand to her fist, Filia went to Noel and took a ring off her finger. “Um, here. I’ve had two treasures, one that I already gave away. This is the one I made with my wishes that Father would come to his senses and stop suffering. But it seems that’s impossible for us now. Don’t let the same happen to you.”

“Thanks for the thought, but are you sure you want to give away both your treasures?” Noel asked.

“Um, yes,” she said. “Because I feel you two will better fulfill my wishes than my father. Please free him from his pain and stop him from fulfilling his mad plan. There’s really only one thing I have the will to do.”

“You really shouldn’t,” Noel said.

“No, I should because no one can stop them as long as I’m around,” Filia said. “I’m already dead; I should be dead. I can’t shake that thought, especially when father treats me more like a precious doll than a daughter. I’m just making things as they should be. All of you are my hope now, that the wonders of the worlds will always be around us.” She gave Noel the ring, then passed out on the spot. But more than unconscious; Chisato checked on her and she was dead; her skin was cool and dry as if she hadn’t been alive at all.

* * *

 

-Noel

It wasn’t clear what Filia meant by them not being able to go to the trials today. The ferry was still in the port, and the captain said that nothing had occurred at the island as far as he knew. No word came in from Narl or the like about it being off-limits either. True, Opera and Ernest still weren’t back, but Noel had the feeling that they’d be all right and it was better to leave them be for a bit longer.

After helping to take care of Filia’s body, he sat on the stairs outside and looked over the ring she’d given him. It was too small for his fingers, a delicate little beauty that was more properly on a girl’s hand. It had a tear-shaped clear diamond set in a silver band, something that seemed simple. But listening to it rather than seeing it, he could her the tormented girl’s voice again. She had loved her father, but also loved simple things in the world, like dewdrops on a spider’s web, the color of desert flowers blooming after a rain, the sound of a creek running through the woods. Her world held few people and many of them scared her, but she didn’t want the wonders to end.

“Filia is innocent, but that’s no reason to punish all of creation for her sake,” Noel murmured.

“What are you going to do with that?” Chisato asked, coming out of the building and stopping by him.

“I can think of things, but I’m not sure if they’d end up helping or hindering us,” he said. “I’ll hold onto it for her until her wishes are granted. After that, who knows.” He looked up at her. “You knew about Leon being on Expel, didn’t you? Since you’re the chronicler and you’ve been writing stories about them.”

“I had my suspicions,” she said, sitting on the steps by him. “Both of you being the sole member of your species on neighboring worlds would make anyone wonder. But by the time I noticed that, we were going to crash into them and I didn’t think it’d be a good idea to tell you about him.”

Noel put the ring in his shirt pocket. “You’re the champion of truth around here.”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t see when it would be a really bad idea to say something,” Chisato said. “You were in a terrible way back then and I could only see it getting worse if I told you and he was left on Expel.”

“I guess I can understand that,” he said. It had been bad enough to endure the death screams and silences that day, but if he’d known of Leon’s presence before then, would he had even made it to that day?

“Speaking of that, how are you doing now?” she asked. “I’ve noticed that you’ve managed to make a connection to him based off your shared abilities, but I’m not sure if he’s noticed or realized who you really are yet.”

“He’s been dealing with too much else, adapting to the hearing and his whole home world dying. It hurts a little that he hasn’t figured it out, but more than that, I’m just relieved to know he’s here with me. But when it comes down to it, I’m going with you guys more to protect him and make sure he gets out of this fine than to defeat the Ten Wise Men and save the universe or anything. I’ll try to get his acceptance later; we have to make sure there’s a later for that to happen first.”

“That’s fine by me,” she said. “And I’m sure the others would understand too; they’re good people.” Then a flash in the sky got her attention. A large streak of light had appeared, running between the center of the sky and… Fienal? It was in that direction, at least. “Huh, wonder what that is.”

Noel pricked his ears forward, but soon relaxed them. “It’s too far away for me to tell. It looked like large weapon fire, though.”

“That it did look like… wait, the Lacour Hope?” She stood up and looked at the sky as a second streak appeared. “Yeah, it does, but why?”

“What’s the Lacour Hope?” he asked, standing up as well. The name hope on a weapon gave him an uneasy feeling.

“It was a weapon that the Lacour Kingdom on Expel built in an attempt to fight the demonic army the Ten Wise Men raised,” she explained. “And… Leon was the one who designed it and built it for the most part.”

Noel’s blood turned cold. “He built a weapon like that?”

“It wasn’t nearly that potent, not enough to make a shot go that far,” Chisato said. “But yes, it’s a heraldic cannon on Expel, which doesn’t even have small firearms. It seemed like Nicolus helped him out.”

“What were his adopted parents thinking, letting him do that?” Noel asked. Although there were some reasons it might not be terrible, like how Nicolus could have been influencing everyone.

And, as Chisato explained, “They were under pressure to do anything to save the kingdom from the demons. And he was under a lot of pressure to prove himself as well. I’m not sure how much I should go into it with you now.” Another streak then tore through the sky, this one even brighter than the past two. “What are they even shooting at? It’s supposed to break up into a large number of homing shots, but nothing’s come down.”

Now he finally heard something, small changes in the background. There was death and destruction at whatever that weapon had been shooting at. And inside the building behind them, there was an internal scream of new anger and grief from someone. “We should go inside,” Noel said, heading in to follow the latter sound.

In the cafeteria, they found that the large screen had been turned to a broadcast from inside Fienal Tower. “The target has been eliminated,” Indalecio said as if it was nothing more than practice. “No survivors.”

Cyril laughed at that, standing by a metal cannon that seemed half-primitive and half-advanced. “Hah, those Pangalactic Federation fools are no better than any of the inferior civilizations that have tried to recapture our majesty. None of them can compare to Nede, not even Energy Nede itself.” Then the broadcast ended.

And in the middle of the room, Claude had his head buried in his arms while he shook in his split emotions. Rena was next to him, trying to help comfort him along with the others. Including Opera and Ernest, back from wherever they had gone. Off to the side, Leon had his ears twisted down and his tail twitching while he paced around uncertain. He seemed to have recognized his work in that, whether Cyril and Indalecio had mentioned what it was. It didn’t take long to figure out what they had been shooting at: the space explorer Calnus, which Claude’s father served on as captain.

It was bad, but Noel left the others to help Claude in favor of going to talk to Leon. “What happened here?” he asked.

Leon looked down, too ashamed to look at anyone. “Th-they took what I built, the Lacour Hope which was supposed to protect everyone from the demons, and then they made it even stronger and destroyed the ship Claude’s dad was on,” he stammered. “It was only going to be used on dangerous creatures, not hurting people. Or making my friends sad.”

“It wasn’t you who used it this time,” Noel said.

“But I made it,” Leon said, starting to cry. Noel was going to hug him, but Leon ran off instead.

It hurt, but it wasn’t his fault; he didn’t really know yet. “What do I do now?” he mumbled, clutching the wedding band he still wore.

* * *

 

-Central City, Chisato

It seemed they really weren’t getting back to the trials today, given Claude was in shock over the loss of his father and everyone on their ship’s crew. At some point, the Expellians had gotten to talking about their planet, so they needed some time too. And now Narl had sent a message for Chisato and Noel to meet with him when they could. “I have a bad feeling about this,” she said to Noel as they entered the teleporter room. “Narl doesn’t like to work with me, since I like to cause him trouble, so him calling me in always seems like it was a last resort or he had no other choice.”

“It’s just strange to me that I’ve seen him in person so much lately,” Noel said.

She checked on the destination, then activated the teleporter. “I hear he’s not so bad if you work for one of the groups he has interest in, but he is so cold to those of us in the press who don’t want to just go along with him.”

They came out into Narl’s office. Mirage was there, discussing something with a chalkboard. “I know, but I need to get back to work on transferring the Crest of Annihilation to any other purpose, so I want to get through this as soon as possible.” Then she nodded to them. “Hello Chisato, Professor Chandler. You’re not going to like this.”

“I had a feeling like that,” Chisato said, going over to the desk and taking a chair there without waiting on an offer to sit. “What is it?”

“We don’t need to start this off badly,” Narl said.

“I think you don’t need to soften your approach to make this seem any better,” Mirage countered. While Narl was caught off-guard with this, she said, “We’ve mostly settled on a plan to get Expel back in place. Oh yeah, and Narl? I’m trying to work with the timeline of the past year to reverse as much damage as I can to their world. They’ve already been interfered with, so a few extra inexplicable paradoxes won’t hurt.”

“Won’t hurt?” Narl asked, skeptical of that.

“Lesser of two evils and all,” she said.

“That’s nice, but if you wanted to let us know that, why didn’t you call the Expellians in too?” Chiasto said.

“Because there’s a part of this that we thought you should know since you’re working to defeat the Ten Wise Men,” Narl said. “We’re dealing with a lot of energy in these events; a miscalculation could end up sending the destructive power of both Expel’s death and the Crest of Annihilation where we don’t want it, like into the Actura star. We have to direct it somewhere, so we’ve decided on directing it at Energy Nede. We’ll sacrifice this world instead.”

“What about the people and animals here?” Noel asked. “They’re not at fault for what’s happened either, so we shouldn’t have to sacrifice them too.”

“We’re going to lose everything here, even our own lives,” Narl said.

Sacrifice everyone here on Energy Nede? Chisato got angry, but more for something she suspected out of Narl. “That’s ridiculous! You think you can just replace one sacrifice for another? But what about the people here? Are you even going to tell them and let them make a choice if they want to go along with this suicidal plan or not?”

“There’s far fewer people here than were on Expel,” Narl said. “Besides, we may deserve this kind of end. The return of the Ten Wise Men shows just how much we’ve deteriorated because we sealed ourselves from the galaxy and sat tight in our safe spot. We’ve not changed or developed at all in this time. On any other world, we would have withered away long ago.”

Surprisingly, Noel said, “I wouldn’t argue with that as a real possibility, but it’s still unfair to the people to not let them decide on their fates. That would make you no different from the Ten Wise Men setting a fate on Expel that none of its natives could change; even the aliens on the world couldn’t stop it. Leaving this safe world will be hard on those who want to live, but they ought to have the chance to do so if they wish to try.”

“Told you so,” Mirage said, looking at Narl.

“How would we even get people off Energy Nede even if they wanted to?” he asked. “Our ancestors didn’t leave us any space ships and I’m not sure we could get one together in time. That broadcast they made earlier didn’t linger on it, but it seemed they were a fair way towards completing the crest.”

“Indalecio will wait on us,” Noel said.

“What do you mean?” Narl asked, confused.

He put his hand on his shirt pocket. “I know him better than you. He now has a reason to wait for us to come to him and his vanity will let us prepare to meet him in battle. However, Cyril is a loose cannon, so I think the time we have is based on how much patience he has. They were prepared to wait a hundred years to get back here.”

‘I don’t even need a year,” Mirage said, leaving the chalkboard to go to a bag she’d left on a chair. She pulled a few paper charms and walked over to give two to Chisato. “I just need enough time to make these for those who wish to escape. It’s already scripted into the crest adaptions I’m making: those holding onto these charms will be protected through a magic state based on teleporter functions that will allow you to pass safely through outer space to a location where you’ll be able to restart your lives. The location is still not decided on, since it depends on how many charms will be active. You and Rena will need them to escape as Nedians, as any of the others will be taken out automatically.”

“Now that I could accept better,” Chisato said, nodding as she took them.

Mirage then gave one to Noel. “Should be taken out, but I’d like you to carry one just in case as you’ve been here for years.”

“Thanks,” he said, taking it as well.

With a rare smile, she then turned to Narl. “And now you need to tell the other Nedians about what we intend to do so that they can decide too. I’ve got some of the guys in Armlock who can copy these easily, so they’ll be handing them out for free and taking a list of how many are leaving so that I can better pick a landing locale to support them.”

“I don’t like passing on this kind of news to everyone,” Narl said.

“You can’t keep everyone safe anymore,” Chisato said. “We’ve had an incredible fortune to stay safe for so long in an ever-changing galaxy. So let me know more about how you decided this was needed, since I want to write an article about it tonight.”

After a moment of hesitation on Narl’s part, Mirage said, “If you don’t tell her, I will.”

“Fine,” Narl said, getting some files from his desk drawers. “Then I’ll have to write something about this too.”


	41. The Trial of Strength

-Ernest

The morning after the Ten Wise Men revealed what they had done with the Lacour Hope, their group gathered in the cafeteria. There were a few things to talk about, including the death of their enemy’s healer yesterday. “It might not make things any easier, but it will keep them from being constantly healed like last time,” Noel said.

“Should keep them down on defeat as well,” Ernest said, knowing how aggravating it was to have an enemy keep coming back no matter how bad its last defeat had been. “Are we all ready to get back into this?” he asked, mostly looking to Claude.

He was a lot more serious today. If he was still angry about yesterday, then he was doing well to keep it under the surface. “We should, to get them out of the picture as soon as we can.” And since no one else had a reason to stay behind, they went out to catch the ferry back to the trial entrance.

On activating the rune codes again, they were warped to the last room of the Trial of Courage. Even if Ernest knew where the staircase from the back side was, there was no visible sign that it was there now. The violet beast was standing on that spot instead. “You did as asked,” it said, seeming satisfied. “And all of you came back after what occurred yesterday?”

“We’re not going to solve anything by sulking around,” Claude said.

The beast curled its tail about. “Good. You’ll want to remember that for the next trial. All of you have passed; finding your way through this maze easily proves that. Go on ahead.” It then turned into smoke and passed through the wooden door, unlocking it.

Past that door, there was a stone staircase ascending to another stone door. They had to go up in pairs since there wasn’t room otherwise. When Dias opened the door at the top, bright sunlight spilled into the dim staircase, making Ernest and some others wince at it. The air coming in from there was crisp, reminding Ernest of a mountain path. And that’s where they found themselves upon emerging: a large ledge on the side of a mountain, with a number of other mountains rising up across the way. There was a stone slab there, but other than the expected statement on strength, it didn’t give them any clues on what to do now.

“Which path do we choose?” Claude asked, looking around. There was a path that headed down the mountain towards a large stone gate, as well as one that headed up the mountain and soon split into three.

“Upwards and onwards,” Chisato said. “It’s well known that the goal for this trial is to get to the peak and we start halfway up. It’s just, there’s also lots of monsters that are here to test those taking the trial, so we have to get through them too.”

“Well it's good that we took the time to take this fresh, then,” Ernest said.

“Doesn’t sound like a problem,” Dias said, but then the guardian of the trial decided to whisk him and Ashton away to take the back side of the trial instead.

“Except if it takes away two of our strongest close combat fighters,” Opera said.

“Well Claude, Chisato, and I can handle things too,” Precis said. “Besides, they shouldn’t have a problem with the other side.”

“Right, so let’s focus on getting up to the top ourselves,” Rena said.

Ernest wondered about that. These trials had proven, with him, that they could take unexpected turns and require something that took another view on the virtue. Ashton and Dias could easily take on a trial if it was a simple view on strength, but what of a more complex one?

Well, they had to trust those two to complete their task as they did theirs.

* * *

 

-Ashton

From the brightness of crossing an ocean on a really fast boat to the dimness of a cavern to the brightness of the mountainside… and now to the eerie half-light of a thunderstorm occurring at sunset, this rapid shifting of light conditions was a bit disorienting. The wind was blowing strong, bringing with it a scent of rain as if this storm had only just begun. He and Dias were now on a mountain of glass, with sharp edges and spikes on a cliff to one side and a sharp drop and more spikes to the other side. In this storm, the glass took on reflection of the tumultuous lights and colors of the clouds above. The rune codes were shining from under the ground, but there was still no sign or clue of what to do.

There was someone there to greet them, a man of grotesque features. Half of his face appeared to be that of a wizened old man, almost an appealing grandfatherly gaze. But the other half of his face was that of a demon, with red scarred skin and unnaturally sharp teeth. Over his half-human half-demon body, he wore a sorcerer’s robes of black and scarlet, its runes seeming evil even when Ashton didn’t know what they stood for.

“Are you the guardian of this place or someone else?” Dias asked, suspicious of him.

“I’m the guardian of the trial of strength, Wisesorcerer,” the half-demon said. “You’re going to have to defeat me in order to pass, but I don’t think you’re going to be able to do it. You could try defeating the other being who lives here, but she’s a goddess of war who lives at the end of this path. It’s far more difficult to ascend that road than to descend it. I don’t think you can do that either.”

_That ****** has a smell that reminds me of XINE,_ Gyoro said. _I hate him already._

“I think you’re bluffing,” Dias said, starting off the battle by attacking Wisesorcerer. But right as he would have struck him clean through, the sorcerer turned into a cloud of flies that Dias entirely missed. Once he reformed, he retaliated with a wave of hot air, much like what Shin had used back in Lacour.

Ignoring that spell, Ashton rushed over and helped out with Sword Dance. If they were to prove their strength here, they might as well use their strongest attacks. But it did nothing when he turned into flies again. Ashton saw his Melufa swords gleaming red, something they hadn’t done yet.

Ururun crowed in alarm, then took over Ashton’s voice. “ _Whoa, hey, no, we’d better get away from this guy; we’re not gonna win.”_

“Of course you won’t, but you’re welcome to try,” Wisesorcerer said, before he even came back together. He floated back as he did, a blue glow forming around his left hand.

“ _****, it’s that Extinction spell the kid used before,_ ” Gyoro said.

“Better get away from that,” Ashton said to Dias.

Fortunately, Dias nodded and ran up the path with him. Being that this mountain was made of glass, the footing was slick and Ashton didn’t entirely trust it. A false move and they could end up slipping off the edge or onto one of the many spikes around. They managed to get out of range by the time Wisesorcerer used Extinction, but they didn’t pause until they reached a relatively flat part of the path. There, Dias skidded to a stop and turned to him. “What do you know about him?””

“It was Gyoro and Ururun,” Ashton said, glancing up at the latter. “You two explain.”

Ururun nodded. _“T_ _he_ _guy looks like a half-demon, but he seems to be more of a vampire. He was draining your life away with the attacks you were making.”_

“ _It’s because both of you have dark elemental weapons,”_ Gyoro added in interruption.

“ _Well we wouldn’t be much better with fire and ice,”_ Ururun said. “W _e won’t be beating him. Although if we don’t beat him sometime, we might find a couple years shaved off our lifespans just on what he already did. But that’s better than trying to beat him and ending up dead of old age, since he wasn't really trying. He’d want us to be finding that goddess.”_

“That rotten guardian,” Dias grumbled, looking up to the path in front of them. It continually ascended, with some rougher patches that might be more secure footing than the slick parts of glass. “If we’re not going to beat it, we’ll have to play along with its game until we can.”

“I think this path is going to be treacherous either way,” Ashton said. “But let’s do this.”

Before long, zombies and skeleton monsters appeared to block their way. Gyoro had said their weapons were dark elemental, but they worked just fine on these undead creatures. At least to stop them briefly, since after about a minute, the monsters would put themselves back together to attack again (even when Gyoro tried to torch them). They silently came up with the same solution, to cut through the ones in their way and keep to the path to continue upwards. Otherwise they wouldn’t be making any progress.

With a rash of lightning strikes to the glass mountain, zombies appeared wearing hooded robes that seemed exactly like those from Zand’s gang in Cross. Rain started falling hard over them, making their ascension even worse. Dias seemed furious at this change, cutting through the hooded zombies like they were made of paper. However, he was getting off to one of the descending paths.

“Dias, don’t go after them!” Ashton shouted, in order to be heard over the zombies and the storm. “That’s a dead end down there.” Probably a very literal one too. If he didn’t slide off into the wall of spikes or the sheer cliff, there were precarious chunks of glass hanging overhead and likely to fall at any disturbance. One did to his shouting, crashing into thousands of sharp shards.

Cutting off one that was attacking him and cursing, Dias paused to see that and came back up to where Ashton was. “I thought they were really back for a moment,” he said.

“It’s probably going to keep playing tricks like that,” Ashton said, right before something screeched and dove at him from the air. He countered reflexively, but his mind kept thinking back to Eluria’s dying days when people kept turning into demons of all kinds. Several were a lot like this one trying to get him to back up into the spiked wall. This trial was definitely going to keep this up to the end.

It was bad enough to see those formerly-human creatures again, even if they were just modeled after them. Yet it managed to grow even worse. At first, Ashton thought it was tricks of the wind, the storm in the glass mountain somehow sounding like cries and whispers. Then the sounds got louder and clearer, screams of agony and cries of pain from unseen sources. It was distractions; it had to be distractions. He kept cutting through the simplistic monsters (they were a lot easier to deal with than the screaming) and following the path with Dias.

“ _I’m trying to think of something cheerful to block out all this meanness, but it’s pretty hard,”_ Ururun said.

“ _I think I’d actually tolerate your nonsense this time,”_ Gyoro said.

“We will get through this,” Ashton said, hoping to convince himself with that too. “We have to, since the others are counting on us to come back.”

“Yes, we have to get back to them,” Dias said, then shuddered when something that sounded like a little girl calling for help came through the racket around them. It made Ashton think of the sick girl in Herlie, as well as kids from Eluria Castle running around the halls playing games. Although more like running and screaming in terror. They continued on upwards, trying to follow the rougher parts of the glass path because of the water streaming down the smooth paths.

Then the rain slowed to a stop, thunder continuing to rumble in the overcast sky above. The mountain also came to a stop even though the path continued on into the air, much like those in the field of intelligence. Here, they had to slow their pace as the path was curving upwards and nothing would keep them from slipping off it. The monsters got fewer, although the all too familiar voices screaming in the wind didn’t let up. They seemed louder now that there wasn’t as much to compete with them.

After completing a full circuit, Ashton and Dias arrived at a huge circular platform. A jagged fence of glass spikes surrounded it, but they seemed so thin and frail that they might as well not be there. At one end of the circle, there was a shimmering globe of magic with someone trapped inside it. They could only see the shadow of a person; perhaps that was the true guardian of this trial. Before they could reach it, more spikes appeared to cut them off from the path downward and two spirits descended from the clouds. They got clearer as they came to hover a couple feet off the glass platform, two men… Ashton felt his heart seize up when he recognized one of them being his father Russell. The other one wasn’t familiar to him, but he looked an awful lot like Dias, perhaps his father too. While coming into a physical form, both of them abruptly turned demonic and rushed over to attack them.

“Not this again,” Ashton muttered, blocking Russell’s first attack with both blades.

“Y _ou’ve got us with you this time, don’t forget it,”_ Gyoro said, taking advantage of the blade lock to breath fire at the ghost’s face.

“Right,” he said, throwing off his father and forcing him to stumble back. He stepped back himself and saw that Dias seemed reluctant to do more than defend himself in his fight. “Dias, these are demons,” he called over. “He wouldn’t attack with deadly intent against you, right?” Then he had to counter Russell’s next move.

“He wouldn’t,” Dias said, then turned his attack to be the aggressor..

This was a fight he had to get out of quickly, Ashton thought, since his father was better than him at heraldic dueling. It was likely the same story for Dias and his father. Deciding to use his best effort in one shot, Ashton stopped his father in the middle of an attempt at Sword Dance and used it right back against him. Thankfully he’d thrown him off in the initial move, meaning Russell couldn’t counter it. Something crashed at the end of it, like some part of the glass mountain had broken.

And his father’s spirit was back to his normal self, although as a ghost instead of a living person. “You managed to learn it,” Russell said, smiling proudly. “I wasn’t sure about this message I got, but I’m glad I came.”

Then his father’s soul was free of the demon it had turned into? Ashton found himself at a loss for words. “Oh, yes, I’ve been working at it… I’m really glad to see you too.”

“I’m not sure when I got lost to this dark storm,” Russell said. “I’m sorry if I caused you grief.”

“It’s all right,” he said. “I wish I could make sure the other souls lost to it are free, although I’m sure I have to defeat those who destroyed Eluria first. My friends and I are going to be fighting them once we finish these trials.”

“I have faith in you. You’re one of the knights too.” Russell floated forward, but then raised his eyebrows. “Dragons?”

“Oh yes,” Ashton said, pointing up to Gyoro. “This is Gyoro, and his twin over here is Ururun. I was told to take care of them for a year, but they’re my friends as well now.”

His father laughed. “I’m sure you’ll make the best of it. You always seem to, no matter what crazy nonsense life throws at you.”

Dias came over them, along with his father’s ghost who had returned to normal as well. “Do you know what we’re supposed to do now?”

“I’m afraid not,” Russell said. “But I’d guess it has something to do with that spirit that’s hiding out over there.”

“We were told to meet a goddess of war up here,” Ashton said, going over to the orb shield with the others.

“That must have been who called us two out here,” Mr. Flac said.

On getting close to the orb, they found something engraved near the base of it. ‘I am a goddess of music, but the wailing in this desolate place is enough to wring the heart of any who come out here. I will shield myself in this silence until something can break through to my heart.’

“It wouldn’t be surprising to hear that Wisesorcerer is a liar too,” Ashton said. “But it was either defeat him, which we can’t do with our weapons, or her if we could get her out of this sphere. Although I’m not so sure about fighting a goddess of music.”

Dias had been staring down at the writing. Now he opened up the bag he kept on his belt. “I’m not that great, but I do have my guitar.” He pulled out a black guitar case, which was quite larger than the belt bag.

“How do you keep a guitar case in that bag?” Ashton asked, bewildered even though he’d just seen it.

He shrugged. “I asked Chisato and she said it was like a doorway into another space placed into bags like this. Then she gave this one to me, so I tried and the case barely got in. I wasn’t sure at the time why I’d want it on me, but this seems to be a possible answer. But like I said, I’m not that good, and there’s all this screaming about.”

“If you think that’s what it will take, you’ve got to try no matter what distracts you,” Mr. Flac said.

“I only know a few songs by heart, but I could sing if you know one of them too,” Ashton said. Since if Dias was going to try music, then he ought to do what he could to help.

Fortunately, the first song Dias suggested was one that Ashton knew well. It was unnerving to be surrounded by all this unseen suffering, but hearing the first notes that Dias tested out to get his form right was reassuring. Ashton was the one who started singing, but it didn’t take long for the ghosts of their fathers to join in. Even the dragons joined in towards the end, their wordless voices adapting strangely well to music. He’d briefly forgotten about the terrible racket around them.

When the song ended, the racket was gone. There was still the whistle of the wind and the occasional rumbles of thunder, but whatever tormented souls were out there had gone silent. Everything seemed calmer than before, the atmosphere of the glass mountain changing entirely. It might have been the presence of the goddess who had dismissed the shield she was in to listen to them.

She did seem like an impossibly beautiful person, a halo of light around her. “Thank you for your emotional performance,” she said. “You both have strong hearts to persevere through this nightmarish terrain.”

“We’ve got people counting on us to finish this,” Dias said.

Ashton nodded. “Right, even though we didn’t have good instructions on this trial.”

The goddess smiled at them. “There’s two things you can do to pass this trial. You have to defeat one of the two guardians of this place in battle, either me, which you could do as you are, or Wisesorcerer who you’ve been having trouble with.”

Defeat her? That made Ashton wary. If they could defeat her now when they had weapons of darkness… she was probably a being of light, which made sense for a goddess of music. And she was being nice to them, complimenting them even though others could have probably done a better job with that song. “I’d rather take out Wisesorcerer, since he seems more like trouble with stealing years off the lives of others.”

“And he’s a jerk,” Dias said, nodding in agreement.

The goddess raised her hands up and Ashton felt something pulling at the Melufa swords. “If that is the way you decide to go, then let me take your weapons for a moment. I can reform them into something more suitable for how I see you both.”

“Okay,” Ashton said, letting go of the two swords. The goddess took Dias’ Crimson Diablos as well, wrapping the three swords in golden light.

It didn’t take long for her to return them, in new forms. Dias now had what appeared to be a silver-bladed sword, with a handle trimmed in gold bindings. “This is Farwell, like the Crismon Diablos before it but blessed with a holy power of an angel rather than the power of a devil.” And his twin blades now appeared to be a pearl white, although the heft of them proved they were still made of metal; the white arm guards on them were more pronounced than those before. “And this is Levantine, twin swords made for one who fights to protect others over everything else. Both weapons will allow you to break Wisesorcerer’s power rather than fall victim to it. You’ll have to return on your own, but the path back is easier than the path up.”

“How did you change their weapons like that if you’re a goddess of music?” Russell asked.

“I’m a goddess of war too,” she said, still smiling serenely. “I never said that I wasn’t.”

* * *

 

-Dias

Both the goddess and Wisesorcerer had been right about the pathway, although Dias was sure it was for different reasons. Now that they had her blessing, the spikes were all gone and the glass path was no longer slick even where it should have been wet from the rain. With the weapons she had made for them, the undead monsters roaming around would stay dead once attacked. There didn’t even seem to be that many, or at least none trying to mimic Zand's men or the Elurian devils anymore.

And they had their father’s spirits following along, fighting with them instead of against them. That had actually been a terrifying moment, to have his father attacking him fully instead of in practice. He’d nearly frozen up in thinking that due to his failings, his father’s ghost had turned demonic. Thankfully, Ashton had snapped him out of that with a good reason to ignore what the demon had appeared like before. His attack even freed his father from that transformation. That had truly been his father talking then, telling him that he was relieved to see that he was still alive, happy to see how his swordsmanship had grown.

Thus playing a song for a goddess of music seemed like the natural thing to do, an expression of his gratitude that he had this contact with his departed family and to know that they still loved him.

Back at the entrance, Wisesorcerer was waiting around for them, having summoned some flaming blue skulls to toss around in boredom. “Oh look, you two managed to get up and back in one piece, without falling,” he said, tossing a few skulls at them. “But you didn’t kill her like you should have; too bad, you have to face me then.”

“Gladly,” Dias said, cleaving one of the skulls in two before darting over to him.

This time he didn’t turn into flies when attacked. It was still an unnatural feel for his sword to pass right through him, more like cutting through a soggy old log rather than a person. And the half-demon didn’t collapse from an attack that would have killed a normal person. They had to endure a few spells from him, but it wasn’t long before one of Ashton’s attack tore Wisesorcerer apart so completely that all that fell were torn pieces of his robes and a bunch of dead flies.

The goddess then appeared near the exit to his place. “I think that might actually be the end of him this time,” she said. “Normally we revive as guardians once someone new uses a set of rune codes to enter this place. But listening to the whispers of this world… I don’t think anyone else will be coming here.”

“Does that mean it’s the end of you too?” Ashton asked, concerned for her.

“If it is, it is,” she said. “You’re kind for thinking of us, but don’t worry. Our purpose is solely to test those who seek to train themselves through these seven trials. We have fulfilled our purpose many times, so if it ends, it ends. I’ll be sure to send these souls back to their proper places before anything should happen to me.”

“Yes, I need to get back to my family,” his father said. “Dias, I’ll let them know that you’re doing well and still think of us. Thank you.”

“I’m glad we could speak again, even for this brief time,” he said.

“If your friends are anything like you two, I’m sure you can do whatever you set your mind to,” Ashton’s father said. “Goodbye; it’s good we could part peacefully at last.”

“Right, goodbye father,” Ashton said, bowing to him. “I’ll uphold the honor of Eluria, even if I’m all that’s left.”

“I do have one more thing to say before sending you back,” the goddess said. “Following my trial is the Trial of Love. You both endured a nightmare coming through this trial, but you should know that the back side of the one that follows can be more cruel than this one, to test the hearts of those chosen to represent love. It would be best if you talked your friends into taking a break after that trial before asking if it was passed. It’s been known to break more people than any other.”

“I’m sure we can do that,” Ashton said.

On passing through the door, they found themselves near the peak of the sunny snowy mountain once again. There was a spindle of rock that went higher, but the end of the trial was clearly at this structure that looked like a shrine. The plateau here was mostly flat, with a long wooden bridge at one end extending to another part of the mountain. The others weren’t here, but neither was an obvious way to get to the next trial. Since it seemed quiet, Dias got out a couple snack bars one of the NDF people had given them and offered one to Ashton. “Might as well take it easy for a bit.”

“Thanks,” he said, taking it. “It’d be nice if there was some way of telling where they are.”

Dias shrugged. “We made it up and down our side, so I wouldn’t think it’d be long for them to get here. And thanks for what you said back there. I’m not sure I could have gotten through that without your help.” He was able to keep things sensible when Dias had nearly lost control of his temper with the zombies of Zand’s men. Or even his fear when his father’s demonic self attacked.

“I’m not sure I could have gone through it on my own either,” Ashton said, surprising Dias. “There were points when I wanted to give up on the climb and get out of there, but you were still going so I followed. Helping you was partly helping myself.” One of his dragons yipped. “Yes, and you two helped out greatly as well,” Ashton said, patting one on the neck.

“If it wasn’t for you two, we might’ve lost right from the start,” Dias said.

After a few minutes, during which Dias brought his guitar back out and played something cheerful, the others crossed over the bridge to them. “Hi, we thought you’d be done before us,” Precis said, waving to them.

“That’s because of those gorillas with explosives,” Claude said, looking a bit dusty and a lot annoyed. “Kept having to find new paths to take.”

“You beat the guardian on this side?” Dias asked, still playing his guitar. It looked like they could use a moment of rest too. Hopefully not enough to call for a break now.

“Over on the other side of the bridge,” Precis said. “And it was the same group of robots that was in the trial of courage, at least it seemed like the same. So where to now?”

“We think the entrance to the next trial is through that gate somehow,” Ashton said, pointing out the shrine area where the rune codes were. “Are you all fine with continuing on? We’re all right now.”

“Probably could use a few moments of rest,” Chisato said, sitting down near them.

“I’m pretty sure the next door is that place,” Noel said, watching the shrine for a moment longer before joining them.

Dias glanced over at Ashton, who nodded. And they'd been thinking the same thing, since Ashton said, “I think you should know something that the guardian here told us. She said that the next trial has a reputation for being really tough, more so than this one. So, we should probably plan on returning to L’Aqua once we manage to get everyone together at the end of it.”

The rest of them accepted that readily, so they just had to explain a little later about what the tough reputation was for.

* * *

 

-4D, chatroom

Dano*: I had not planned on Dias getting a holy weapon. Then again, I also didn’t plan on him getting a sword named 'red devil', so I’ll take it.

Ashe*: I think we’re well beyond planning now, but that’s what CJ wanted.

Dano*: There are benefits to this way of playing too. It resolved a lot of questions for him, which I don’t know if I could have done in my usual way.

Ashe*: But talking of unexpected things, I got an alert I never expected to see. My challenge mode got negated.

Dano*: Ashton was a challenge mode character?

Ashe*: Yeah. I couldn’t afford enough prestige based on my starting character to do a big challenge, but I had him set on Ill Luck.

Ashe*: But then it turns out that this Levantine sword has a high enough luck rating to negate that permanent status for good, so he’s no longer going to be absurdly unlucky. Or lucky, based on what you think of the dragon possession.

Dano*: That’s quite a change. But you’ve got a star now, so I’m sure you could get enough prestige to do whatever challenge you’d like next.

Ashe*: Well I like Ashton, so I’m going to stick with him for a while. Besides, I wanted to see how much of a hero I could make out of him with such a bad start. I didn’t mean for it to get that bad, though.

Dano*: Now they’re going to save the universe, so that’s one giant leap from an unlucky squire.

Ashe*: Yeah! I’m happy for them.

Dano*: I avoided the Ill Luck challenge since luck can be such a huge variable when I like to carefully control my characters. But you know, maybe I should try it anyhow since challenging my own methods is about the only way to make things difficult now.

Ashe*: I’m sure you could still pull it off in an awesome manner.


	42. The Trial of Love

-Noel

On approaching the gate at the end of the Trial of Strength, they were all warped away to the next location. It happened to be an island in the sky, a place he had been surprised to see at first but then grew used to it hanging there in the distance from his usual places in the outer ring paradise. He’d been told early on that it was a restricted site, so he soon lost interest in it. It looked entirely too unnatural for him.

Being here didn’t change his opinion of it. It was formed of clusters of rocks, supporting a pavement that stretched out in a maze which was confused by floating boulders that obstructed views. “How far off the ground are we?” Dias asked, on noticing that this place wasn’t on the surface of Energy Nede.

“About three-quarters of a mile off the sea water surface, I believe,” Chisato said. “It does have safety systems to avoid people falling off, but I wouldn’t try your luck with that.”

There was a stone slab at the start like the rest, this one stating the usual statement on love as well as, 'Touch the generators and if the love in your heart is good, the way to the end will be before you. If you come here with others, have none touch two generators until all have helped forge the way.' “So this maze shouldn’t be a problem if you have this virtue,” Ernest said. “I wonder what criteria they judge this on; love can mean many things.”

“It has to be something connected to heraldry,” Rena said.

There had been some goodhearted jesting among the group that Rena and Claude would end up being taken for the trial of love, getting them both embarrassed. So far, it seemed not to be taking a person who had been taken before. But, that left four of them with three trials left to complete, so of Love, Humility, and Clarity, only one would take a pair and the rest would have to be done alone. Just which would he…?

The sparkles appeared and he was taken away for the back side of this trial. That filled him with a shadow of dread. If it meant to try him for love, it would surely remind him of what happened… “If it must be so,” he murmured, but he wasn’t sure how well he’d do.

“Wait, what am I doing here?” Leon asked, making Noel realize that he’d been brought over too. “What kind of criteria are they using anyhow?”

Noel understood it immediately and didn’t like it. His ears twisted back, but then he made himself calm down. “You can’t always know with these beings who are not entirely beings,” he said. “They do what has been asked of them even if it won’t make sense to us.”

“Well the others made sense,” Leon said. “I suppose we’ll do the best we can like them.”

He nodded and looked around. They were in a room with plain gray walls and no windows, just hidden lights that kept things rather dull. With only one door, there was only one way to take. The stone slab enforced that notion by saying, ‘Some places in this labyrinth are poisoned; you may leave at any time you like by exiting through the door you just passed through, but you will fail the test for this. Some places in this labyrinth are dark; the way to escape will always have a light, but you will never find the treasure this virtue holds. The monsters can be appeased by acceptance.’

“How do you appease monsters by acceptance?” Leon asked.

“Sometimes monsters aren’t the monsters you think they are,” Noel said. “Don’t take first impressions for granted.”

Since there would be only one path, they headed off through the doorway. The air smelled musty, although Noel could hear its sluggish voice well enough to know that this wasn’t a poisoned room. Not too far in, an illusion sprouted, making the dull room vanish in favor of a regal but imposing throne room. The floors were black and white tiles, the walls were covered in what seemed to be trophy banners, and the throne was placed in a way to make sure that light fell prominently on the king. No one familiar was in the room, but Leon said, “That’s the king? And Princess Rozelia.”

Then this had to be the king who had Leon building weapons at his young age. He was talking with people wearing white coats that made them seem remarkably like lab scientists. Which it seemed they were. “I put the boy in charge because all of you were bickering and dithering in your projects while he was getting most of your work done in your place,” the king said dismissively. “I asked you for weapon designs to increase our military might and you only come up with old or impractical ideas. He’s the one who came up with a real advancement, which surprised me as well.”

“Really, your majesty?” one of the scientists asked.

“He’s a kid, no matter what he can do. I had you all call him Master Leon thinking it would goad you into improving your performance out of embarrassment, but it seems he and his parents are the real genius and you are the embarrassment. With his improvements to the Lacour Hope project, we can actually eliminate the Elurian devils and force Cross into giving up their regency. The thing I want you to take from this meeting is that you need to stop fooling around and actually do the work I’m paying you for. Go on out of here, and get Murdoch and Florence to come up next.”

“We’re doing all that we can, your majesty,” one of the scientists said, bowing. But a knight pulled him away and directed him to the exit of the throne room.

Meanwhile, the princess looked at a silver ring she wore in worry. “Father, do you really have to go after Cross once Eluria is safe?”

“If we leave them, they’re only going to cause trouble for us,” the king said. “We’ll bring war to them before they even think of bringing war to us.”

“But they’re on a whole different continent and haven’t ever bothered anyone on Lacour.”

He pounded a fist on his throne. “It doesn’t mean that they won’t. That’s the lesson you should have learned from the history of our land: it doesn’t matter who your allies are, since they’ll all turn out to be enemies in the end. Since we can travel easily over the seas now, we had best eliminate all threats within reach so that we have nothing more to fear. It would have been a whole lot easier if you had gotten married to the prince, since that would have let us annex you before long.”

“But I made a promise to Clothier that our nations would be allies and not attack each other because it didn’t work out,” the princess said sadly.

“Promises are worthless beyond childhood follies,” the king said.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to start a war just because they might when they don’t seem interested in it,” she said.

“You’re being a fool,” the king said, narrowing his eyes at her. “Ugh, and I thought I had taught you to have sense. Guards, take her off to the tower cell. I don’t want to deal with you today.”

“But father….” the princess pleaded fearfully.

“Don’t but father me,” he said. The scene faded there.

“I don’t remember that,” Leon said. “But, um… I don’t remember seeing the princess around after I got back from the mines.”

“He doesn’t seem like a good king,” Noel said.

Leon seemed embarrassed at that, turning his ears down. “Um, well… I thought he was good enough. I mean, he picked me to lead the research lab. But, um, only to annoy the adults? And I made the Lacour Hope so people didn’t have to be afraid of the demons from Eluria and the Sorcery Globe. Not so he could invade Cross; Rena and some of her friends are from there.”

“There are many people who will deceive others to get what they want, as wrong as that is,” Noel said.

“Well I had figured that adults liked to make things complicated, but still… are we supposed to just move on? Why show us things that happened, especially with no clear reason?”

“It could be to show what love is, and what it is not,” he said, following Leon to the next door. But would that mean it would show what happened on the spaceship twelve years ago? He did not want to have to see that play out all over again.

The next room smelled like moss, even though there was no moss. There were a few robot enemies that tried to swarm them alarmingly fast, but they were able to cast quickly enough to stop them dead in their tracks. Something about the equipment the Nedians had given them was doing that, helping them work more efficiently. As soon as the robots were down, another scene played out like the last. This time it was Noel, back on Roark.

He was in a city park at night, focused on a tree and flowerbed since those were familiar sounds in an unfamiliar place. They spoke of being constricted in the structure that people had built around them to display them. The only animals that came around them were mischievous squirrels who like to act out against Fellpools in their territory and pigeons who didn’t much care where they were as long as it was a safe place to roost. “Doesn’t sound like a good life,” he murmured.

Then a sound that had been out of place against the trees and flowers piped up again, becoming clearer in proximity. “Hello, Noel?” a young woman his age said. Her shimmery blue hair fluttered in the light breeze and her tail was flicking playfully. Possibly because she was leaning over him with her face less than a foot from his.

Noel yelped and fell backwards into the flowerbed behind him, causing her to giggle. He got back up, quietly apologizing to the flowers for falling on them. Then he had to speak to her. “S-S-Sula? Wh-what are you doing here?”

“Walking back to campus from work,” she said. “But you were spacing out there and I was worried. Is something wrong? Is it about those guys in class teasing you? Well don’t worry about them; they rag on everybody who’s not a part of their little clique and they’re not worth the trouble of bothering.”

It had been rather more than teasing, Noel thought. It was out-right bullying because he couldn’t speak well. Of course, since he started hearing things that normally shouldn’t be heard, that had gotten a lot worse. “Mmm…n-n-not ent-t-t-tirly. I was just listening….”

“Listening to what?” Sula asked, intensely curious. When he bit his lip and looked down, she leaned down again to look him in the face. “Please, tell me? Sometimes you can hear the pigeons around here, but it’s late for them. And it’s nice to listen to the city sometimes too, always sounds like lots of exiting things going on.”

“T-too much art-tiifical noise,” Noel said. “I was listening t-to th-the flowers.” He blushed, expecting to get teased as usual.

Instead, Sula crouched down and had her eyes wide in amazement, her ears pointed right at him. “Ooo, really? You can hear flowers? That’s amazing! I always thought flowers were so pretty and sweet and wondered what they would say if they could speak. So what do they say?”

Noel felt briefly flustered by her interest. But, she was interested… the pretty girl he’d admired in his first days at this university was interested in what he could do. Aside from his mother who had the same talent, most either were uninterested or disbelieving. He managed to speak to Sula for a little while without stammering with this novelty. “These ones feel constrained and out of place here, even if they’re cared for with kindness. But they did tell me a funny story about a squirrel…” it stopped before telling that story.

“That was someone you knew?” Leon asked.

He nodded. “That was my wife Sula, from when we first became friends. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen her.”

“You seem nervous.”

“I think you’ll understand, by the end of it. Come on, I think the past could be a tougher thing to face than whatever else this trial has in store.” Leon was young enough that he might not understand, but this would prove it.

The next room was entirely made of iron, a heavy influence of early industrialism. This room was poisoned, a slow presence of lead in the iron walls. While it wouldn’t harm them immediately (and hopefully not with whatever would take place here), the water trickling across the floor wasn’t fit to drink and tinged slightly with rust. “The water sounds sick,” Leon noticed.

“There’s a slow poison in the walls,” Noel told him, right as the visions came.

It was Leon again, this time with a man and woman who seemed to be his adopted parents. The woman was really happy, constantly moving around the work table the other two were working at. “Well, it’s a great honor!” she said. “As the lead researcher, you’ll get lots of support for research and commissions for projects directly from the king. You’ll be able to learn a lot by doing a lot.”

“I didn’t get any of the personal commissions,” Leon said. “But it means I’m doing well in what I’m already doing with the void and vacuum magic research, right?”

“Of course!” she said.

“Florence, Leon,” the man said, worried. “I’m not so sure about this. The king didn’t really explain this assignment and with how competitive the other researchers are, this could end up causing us a lot of trouble. Even on quieter days, you need to keep a lot of confidence and persistence, or else the others will cause you trouble.”

Florence paused to squeeze her husband’s shoulder. “Don’t be silly, Murdoch. We’ve already done great things and we’ll continue to do so. Just have to ignore the petty jealousy of the others and keep on our work. Science is the important thing and it’s wonderful that we have a king who supports the sciences so well. Still, I think we should go into town to celebrate a little. Although it’d be nice if I had my ferry design built so we could skip the busy bridge. I forget where I was with that, I wanted to make sure it had a nice roof,” she wandered off to another work area while still talking.

Although he looked worried, Murdoch just rubbed his head. “She says to go out, but I’m sure we’ll have to make sure she doesn’t get too involved and forgets to eat again.”

“Why’s Momma like that?” Leon asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, she’s always been this way.” Then it flickered and instead of the family, it was Murdoch and some of the researchers. He was being stern with them. “I know none of you were actually working on new research, so why have you failed to turn in your reports on time? It’s a simple basic of research. If you don’t clean up your acts soon and show some progress, I’ll talk to Leon and the king about letting all of you go.”

“Come on, you know the king doesn’t want any real progress made,” one of them said. “He just wants to increase our war capacity to be the strongest nation on Expel. If he keeps treating us like ****, I’d be glad to get out of here.”

“You should be more careful,” Murdoch said.

A whisper in his memories could be heard from the vision, from the king. “You’re right, he’s not in charge. You are, and if the lab keeps failing in its assigned work, it’ll be blamed on the leader they can see and I’ll put Leon and Florence in prison. So get them to shape up.”

“Besides, Florence has been so gloomy today that it’s making everyone short-tempered,” another researcher said.

“I think it’s more because of that feline brat in charge.”

“They’re doing more work than the rest of you combined,” Murdoch said sharply. “Are you going to keep whining or actually do something?”

“Sheesh, lighten up, Murdoch,” one of them said as they went back to their work stations.

Murdoch grumbled, but went to his own work station. On the way there, he ran into Florence; she did look like the world had been ruined and she didn’t care to do anything. “Florence, what’s on your mind?” he asked gently.

“I don’t know,” she said, sighing. “The world seems so cruel, I don’t know why I got out of bed this morning. I’m sorry for being so miserable. Do you still love me?”

“Of course I love you,” he said, giving her a hug. “I’m doing all that I can to make sure you and Leon are doing well. Weren’t you going to work on finding a way to support the weight of the Lacour Hope on the warship?”

“Oh, so I can work on ships today?” she said, seeming to cheer up a little.

“Yes, you can work on the ship designs,” Murdoch said. “Which one of the ships in the fleet do you think can handle it?”

“Technically, it’d be best to build a new one from the ground up to carry the Lacour Hope permanently, but for now I suppose we could adapt one, hmm,” she went to get some books and was soon distracted in that work, to Murdoch’s relief.

He then went over to Leon’s work station, where Leon had fallen asleep in the middle of making a diagram; there was a scribble in the middle where his pencil had slipped, but otherwise it was crowded full of ideas and instructions. “How long have you been working today?” Murdoch said quietly, trying to pick him up without disturbing him. Leon didn’t wake up, so he set him on a couch nearby. Apparently this wasn’t the first time this had happened. “You’ve been working like you’re possessed lately; I don’t know if I should stop you before you burn out or let you keep at this brilliance.” He looked over the designs, then started erasing the scribbles and copying pieces to other papers to clean the work up. “I’m not getting back to my own work, but I need to keep you safe.”

As the vision faded, Leon had his ears down sadly. “I didn’t know he was doing that,” he said. “I always got annoyed with him fixing my work, but he was trying to help instead.”

“Seems like he took on a lot of burdens out of love for you both,” Noel said. And he could start to see why Murdoch and Florence would have let Leon design major weapons like that. They didn’t really have a choice because they were working in such a toxic environment. And perhaps Leon had been trying his utmost to make sense of this unstable situation, following the king’s orders because he got acceptance that way.

“I guess so… oh, but you know about healing. Do you know why Momma was strange like that? It was hard to say how she’d be any day, but I know she loved me.”

“I wouldn’t be the best expert,” he admitted. “And I’d have to meet with her and ask some questions. But from that, she might be bi-polar. People with disorders like that go through extremes in emotions with very little middle ground, suffering because they have little control over it. I think it’s something that some are born with, or something that is triggered by a bad accident. Whichever it was, it’s not her fault she’s that way.”

“I know, but it’s really hard to deal with her some days. I think I hurt her last time we talked…. Really, we need to get Expel back for many reasons, but I want to go apologize to them. Maybe find a way to help Momma someday.”

“That’s a good goal to keep,” Noel said. Although first, he’d probably have to get out of Lacour with his family. It seemed like a bad place for them to stay, even if Mirage messed with things in her reset. Maybe Noel could even help them, if they’d accept him.

The next room was back to being non-poisonous, but it was starting to get dim and hard to see. After they were both in the room, an alarm suddenly blared in the quiet stillness. It was an uncomfortably familiar sound to Noel… and strangely enough, to Leon too. The boy jumped in fright and nearly backed off into the doorway. But that would cause them to fail the trial, so Noel got hold of him. “Wh-what is this?” Leon asked, tense and his tail all fluffed up. “I’ve only heard it in nightmares.”

“It might be something you remember from long ago,” Noel said. Thankfully, the alarm shut off as abruptly as it had come. But now there were lights along the floor, rather like emergency lighting in Federation starships.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked, but then one of the visions started, with something far less terrifying.

In fact, it was a good moment, where Noel was speaking to some of his professors. “Your speaking skills could still use some improvement, but you were clear the entire time,” one of them said. “And your work was remarkable, not something I expected out of a student.”

“Thank you, sir,” Noel said, still shy but glad to have the praise. “I’ve been working on my speech problems whenever I get a chance this year.”

“Noel!” Sula then appeared, running over and grabbing him with a hug. “That was amazing, I think you did the best! And everybody was surprised and impressed, except me because I know how hard you worked on it. I just think you did wonderful.”

“S-Sula,” he said, blushing but returning her hug. “I couldn’t have done this without your help.”

Then the scene jumped a year forward, to their home where Sula had a bunch of papers and pamphlets spread out messily while she explained to Noel about the offer (and he tried to make her sprawl neater, but was soon lost to listening to her). “All this training for an exploratory spaceship is gonna take time, but we’ve passed a bunch of it having graduated from the university already. We can work in our fields but with really unbroken ground, and then the Pangalactic Federation will support us a lot more than a university could. We would have to leave Roark, but there’s so much opportunity for both of us in this program.”

“Are you ever going to run out of words or breath in this?” Noel said in jest.

Sula laughed. “Maybe not! Would you consider it, please? I know you wanted to work here.”

“It’s all right,” he said. “If you want to follow your dreams there, then I’ll come with you. Besides, working with plants and animals I have never heard of could be interesting too.”

Then it was back to that alarm and a jarringly different scene. Sula was there, but Noel wasn’t. Blood was trickling down her face, but she hardly paid that heed while she was trying to clutch their crying child protectively. Although the vision was hazy aside from Sula and Leon, there were two others in the scene. “What are you doing with these two? They’re trash, they should have been gotten rid of.”

“Um, but, the child,” an anxious girl said.

“Doesn’t matter; don’t heal them.” Then he disappeared.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry,” the girl said.

“Where’s Noel?” Sula said, disoriented and upset. “What happened to us?”

“I’m sorry,” the girl repeated. “But you can’t stay here. Um, you want to save your child, don’t you?”

“Can you take us somewhere safe?”

“You shouldn’t stay with me. Come this way.” She took Sula’s arm gently and helped her down the hall. “They’re going to toss away most of the ship since they don’t need this much space, so you need to get in these escape pods. I don’t know where you’ll go, but I hope it helps. I wish I could do more.”

Then it jumped again, this time to Expel where Murdoch was chasing down Florence. They didn’t look all that old here, maybe not even twenty. “Florence, hold on,” Murdoch said, finally catching up to her and grabbing her hand. “What is it? What did they say?”

“It’s because of that energy research she insisted on!” Florence said, crying. “We can’t have kids anymore. But she’s already got a daughter and I’m never going to be a mother. Just go, I’m never going to be a good wife to anyone.”

“I’m not worried about that,” Murdoch said. “I’m worried about you. We’ll figure something out.”

“But…” then they got interrupted by pieces of the battered Federation explorer falling from the sky.

Including the escape pod that Sula and Leon had taken, which landed closer to Florence and Murdoch than the rest of the debris. Sula was in bad shape, not even able to get out as they approached. “Get my son somewhere safe,” she said as she noticed the two of them, dying not long after Florence had taken Leon from her.

“We can take care of him,” Florence said.

“We weren’t supposed to get married for another few months,” Murdoch said, worried. It ended there.

Noel had figured that something like that had happened; it still pained him to see it. And now this place, which had seemed mostly neutral towards them, started telling him to leave. It’d only get worse from here; did he really think he could handle this? Or that Leon could handle it? They’d be spared a lot of pain by forfeiting the trial. That’s what the whispers said, but Noel wasn’t sure if he agreed with them. They might be spared the pain for now, but there was a lot more at stake here.

Close to him, Leon was unnerved by this vision. “Wait, she was my birth mother?”

“Yes, we’re your parents too,” Noel said. “I knew once I heard that spell you cast at Fienal, but it seems we were separated too soon for you to fully recognize me. But we are two lost on worlds with no others like us; I thought you might figure it out yourself, through logic or hearing our connection, so I didn’t say anything.”

“Well that is a simple explanation, but,” he paced around a little. “It’s just a lot stranger than I thought it would be. My parents on Expel gave me one reason I'm like this, but told me recently about what really happened. How did we end up like this?”

“It was when the Ten Wise Men first appeared, in this era.” Even as he said it, his body remembered the sheer terror of those hours, how his happy life had been ripped apart just on a bad chance. “I wanted to protect you and Sula, but it may have been impossible to do that from the moment I first heard them.”

Then a dark wind surrounded him and suddenly he wasn’t sure where he was. Or where Leon was.

* * *

 

-Leon

“Noel!” Leon called, going to the spot where he had been. But darkness had swallowed up more of the light that had been here.

He was immediately assaulted by a number of voices from the magic of this place. ‘Why should you be worried about someone you’ve only know for a brief time?’ ‘He could have been lying like many adults do so why trust his words?’ ‘This whole place could be lying to trick you.’ ‘You’ve felt the immense hatred the Ten Wise Men had; what kind of love can be greater than that?’ ’How much could your parents love you, if your mother was broken like that and your father was unsure of you?’ ‘It’s going to be easier to get out of this place and away from everyone, that way you don’t have to encounter the hatred of those insane monsters again.’ ‘You have a touch of death to you, child.’

“Shut up!” he said, clenching his fists and closing his eyes. He wished he could shut off his hearing, as strange as it had gotten.

He wished he wasn’t alone, in this dark possibly poisonous place that claimed it was a trial of love. It seemed ridiculous, one of those lies that adults told while claiming to speak the truth. But he didn’t know where Noel was, or how to get back to the normal side of this trial without completing it. Did the others have to do things like this?

“If they can do it, so can I,” Leon told himself, then opened his eyes and tried to figure out where the door onward was. It had grown dark enough that he could only see the way out, which had a white light around its frame. Then he recalled how he and Noel had helped to navigate the Trial of Courage. There was some water trickling around, in the walls, in the air, and sometimes in the room. It gave him a general idea of the shape of the room… but there didn’t seem to be another door.

What now… oh wait, Noel had said something just now… “I thought you might figure it out yourself, through logic or hearing our connection…” but were they really connected or was it all a complicated lie?

For some reason, the alarm blared again, causing him to twist his ears back. Then he realized, that could be proof. Some of his nightmares had that sound in it, but if it came from one of those starships that he’d never heard about until seeing the ship Ernest and Opera flew around, then did he remember that? He’d been a baby, so it was difficult to say.

And what about Sula? Leon tried to remember what those visions had been showing; the ones with Noel and Sula hadn’t seemed too interesting until it came up that they might be connected to him too. Then part of the vision that had taken place here came back on. Sula was talking happily in trying to convince Noel to take more training to be on a spaceship. Her voice struck a chord with him; he’d liked her from the moment she showed up in these visions, but couldn’t explain to himself why. When he thought about how she was his mother, it suddenly made sense, like a light turning on.

A light didn’t turn on in the room, but Leon wondered if he could pick out Sula’s voice among all the others and find Noel that way. She’d have a connection to him too, after all. And… past the vision’s voices, he could hear her humming. Something she done trying to soothe him when she knew she was going to lose her life soon. It was a terrible thing to realize. But in following that hum, he found the door he couldn’t find otherwise.

There was more water in this room, pouring down one of the walls into a drain. Through that, he could tell that this room was poisoned. In the water and even in the air, so he shouldn’t spend much time in here if he could. He wondered briefly if he could use his Acid Rain spell to cover the room to find the exit or if he’d need to keep follow Sula’s humming. But then another vision started.

Now it was Noel and himself, as a small baby in a pouch sling Noel was wearing over his shoulders and chest. He was really happy; Leon noticed how vibrant his voice was, compared to his current voice which held the same kind of light but carried a monotonous emotionless tone. “This vine’s growing quickly; seems to be happy even with the limited amount of dirt. This lab definitely has a more stable environment than its home world.” Noel touched Leon’s ears, smiling. “I wonder when we’ll get around to bringing you back to our homeworld; your grandparents are eager to see you in person. Maybe you’ll be given a name to reflect how you were born in space among the stars. It’d have to be a special one then, like no other.” He started singing as he did his work of taking care of the plants on this spaceship.

“I was born among the stars?” Leon wondered. Maybe it was why he felt drawn to the stars and their magic, even though a lot of it was unscientific and difficult to study. He closed his eyes and listened to Noel singing. It wasn’t a sound he had expected out of him, but at this moment it felt comforting, blocking out the darker whispers from the trial’s magic.

Then the song was interrupted and he had to watch the vision carry on. Sula and an important looking woman had come into the room. “Hi Noel, what’s going on down here?” Sula said, going over and rubbing Leon’s head.

“Most of this is going well, but I’m afraid we’re going to have to put this vine away, as nice and happy as it is,” Noel said. “It’s going to keep growing and overtake the whole botany lab with enough time. I’m trying to figure out something to do with its components so it doesn’t go to waste.”

“I’ve seen you do a lot with plants and animals that didn’t seem like much on first glance,” the other woman said “I’ll trust you to handle this one then. But there’s something we’d like you to see. We haven’t been able to make much sense of it, but we picked up a stray device in space.”

“Thanks, captain. I can’t hear machines all that clearly, but I can give it a try,” Noel said, putting his arm around the back of Leon’s sling so that he could detach it and hand him over to Sula for a little while.

The vision immediately switched to Noel and the woman captain in another room. In the middle of it, there was an object that looked like a solid piece of black obsidian. It had several rows of buttons with mysterious orange characters, reminding Leon of the panel in the lift of Hoffman Ruins. Noel was trying to listen to it.

A few voices came from it, but they weren’t native ones of the stone. Even Leon could tell that watching the past play out. They were voices of darkness and hate, of the Ten Wise Men. Noel hadn’t listened to them long before he backed off and shook his head. “Sorry, you shouldn’t mess with this. It’s dangerous, connected to a powerful hatred. Activating it will only cause grief.”

Then the vision flickered in an unnerving way, making Leon feel sick. Or maybe it was the poison in this room finally sinking in. Either way, when things settled down, it was a few hours after the last part and Noel was back in the room with the strange device. This time, Sula and Leon were with him, the sounds of hate wrapping around them like a cage. “Activate it,” a voice that seemed to be Cyril said.

As a baby here, Leon was crying in fear even if he was with his mother. Watching this, Leon felt a bit of that fear himself, some kind of power clasping his heart and threatening to snuff it out when he was helpless to do anything to save himself. Noel was frantic, but even if he could hear the voices, he knew he couldn’t reach the source of this threat. He went over to the device and looked it over, then said, “I-I can’t read this.”

Then there was a sound like a faint heartbeat close by, like someone in the scene they couldn’t see. But the words barely came through, “Hold them off, I should be able to block…”

“Well then let’s fix that,” Cyril said, releasing his hold on Leon to reach into Noel’s mind and overtake him. The unseen person, an angel perhaps? He fell out of the scene as if he’d never been there. Then Cyril could see the characters and know what they meant. “It’s that buggy fool’s folly that the password is ‘InnocentFilia’, that’s all you need to do. But you know…”

The scene abruptly shifted, with Noel still possessed by Cyril coming across the starship captain. There were a lot of dead people here, not all like Noel and Sula but wearing similar clothing. “Noel, what’s gotten into you?” the captain said, using a weapon rather like Chisato’s stun weapon against him.

“That worm’s no longer in control,” Cyril said with a dark thrill, killing the captain with just the air.

That was horrible; it made Leon feel like throwing up. But the scene then changed to when the Ten Wise Men were physically on the starship. Noel was slumped against one of the walls, terrified and exhausted. “Eh, just leave him to live a few more minutes unless he causes trouble,” Cyril said, paying more attention to the starship controls. “Shigeo, you did one hell of a number on this thing’s engines.”

“Well you were the one blasting spells around through him on the inside,” another one of the wise men said.

Now that they weren’t paying attention to him, Noel managed to get out of the room. “Sula?” he said, his voice weak. He was barely keeping himself on his feet, but he went down the halls trying to find her and their child. The scene didn’t keep up with him this time, so Leon had to run after his father's past self to keep watching. With all these people here dead, the ship was filled with a horrible silence only broken by the hateful and proud voices of the Ten Wise Men.

Eventually, Noel found himself drawn to a silence that was different from the death silence. It was in a room where large windows showed the stars all around them, including the swirling pink mass that must have been Energy Nede. Indalecio was here, staring into the cluster overhead. Back when he’d first seen this man, Leon hadn’t gotten a good sound from him. Now he realized that Indalecio was all silence and emptiness, an overbearing and stifling lack of sound that would silence everything around him.

Noel was drawn to this for some reason. It seemed strange to Leon, but he went right up to Indalecio. Even though his heart had been screaming in pain and grief when he could barely speak, he was nearly absorbed into the silence here. Then Indalecio turned to him. “I’m sorry for all that. I didn’t realize he meant to use that method to get our prison opened. You shouldn’t use a man’s family against him no matter what’s at stake.”

Not sure what to say, Noel didn’t respond. But hearing that seemed to make him accept that his wife and child were probably dead. Perhaps even from Cyril’s rampage through his body. So he didn’t care about how powerful the person in front of him was.

“I am prepared to offer you mercy, should you chose to accept it,” Indalecio said, turning his gaze back to Energy Nede. “I need to get there. We’ve been planning this for eons and that will be the best and most suitable location for what needs to be done. However, they wrapped themselves up in many shields to keep anyone from attacking them. Cowards. I have a theory on how to get through the shields, but I would rather test with someone other than us on how to do it.” He turned back to Noel. “If the test fails, you’ll die. If it succeeds, you’ll probably die from impact and if you even survive that, you just need to tell them that you helped me. They'll kill you for it. Will you be my test subject?”

“That’s crazy,” Leon mumbled.

“I will,” Noel said.

“Then find your ending,” Indalecio said, casting a shield over Noel before hurling him off the ship and onto Energy Nede.

It was crazy. But as the vision faded, leaving him back in that heavily poisoned room, Leon remembered how he’d felt on feeling all of Expel die. He’d been trying to ignore that memory. After all, they were going to fix things so that Expel was back where it should be and he could go home to his parents. But what of his other parents? There seemed to be a lot of people on that starship, like a town? So they had all their neighbors and friends die in a short amount of time and were separated from each other. Sula knew she was going to die, but she kept herself going long enough to see to it that he survived because she loved him. And Noel thought they had both died, destroying all the love and happiness he had. Maybe surrounded by the silences of a violent death made him want total silence.

Leon also remembered when he saw Noel for the first time again, the sound of comforting light amid the hatred and death. It had seemed familiar. Maybe he’d just not accepted it because it seemed illogical. But now that he knew more about what actually happened, it made sense. Noel had found the voice of someone he loved that he thought was lost, so he was doing all that he could to protect Leon, even agreeing to face the Ten Wise Men again.

In this room, the poison was trying to convince him to give up on this trial again. It was making him feel really sick; he’d spent too long here. But now he could hear Noel’s voice through the darker ones as well. No words, just his mana as he was caught up in the poisonous voices here too. Leon ran for him, even if it really hurt his lungs to do that. Before he even thought of leaving this place, he had to find Noel.

Then he was there, bound by the dark voices in what was thankfully a non-poison room. It was completely dark, though Leon could tell some other being was in there too. With a voice like metal ringing in a blacksmith’s forge, it had eyes that emitted a green-yellow light. “You’ve come for this man?” the creature asked.

“Yes, let him go,” Leon said. He wondered how he might fight the creature, but the poison was still making him feel horrible.

“I’m thinking about it,” it said. “I am Barker, guardian of the field of love. Why do you want him freed?”

Would the guardian be reasonable? Or not, given how it formed its trial. “Because he’s been followed by those dark voices for too long; it’s mean to leave him feeling alone with them again. And he’s my father too.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Barker said. “There are some terrible fathers out there; you saw one here, how the king of Lacour treated his daughter. And you have only been around him for a few days, only a few weeks total in your short lifetime. What can he mean to you with that little time?”

Leon felt stuck for an answer on that. But then he heard Sula’s voice again, this time not a repeat of what he’d seen here. “If you know nothing else to say, speak your heart.”

While it didn’t seem like a lot, he nodded and said, “I’m not sure. It’s true I don’t know him well. But with what I’ve seen here, I know that he loves me and has been trying to do what he can to help me. And, I realized that my adopted parents love me more than I thought, but they had lots of trouble all around us. I can’t get back to them until we defeat these trials and defeat the Ten Wise Men. Also, I, um, I need him. He’s the only person who knows about how my hearing has changed. And I don’t want him to suffer, so let him go please.”

The lights suddenly turned on and Leon saw that he was talking to a gigantic toad made of stone and crystal. Really bizarre, but maybe even bizarre creatures knew about love. “His love for you as a parent is powerful. Your love for him as a child is… frail, new. It could develop strong in return, but you both need more time. Hearts don’t heal easily, but you have brought new life back to him. Very well, you both may go.” It then released Noel from its bindings.

“That was close,” Noel said, casting a neutralizing spell over Leon to get rid of the poison. “I could hear what you were doing on your own. You did well, I’m glad.”

“That was terrible,” Leon said, hugging him.

They didn’t end up with any physical treasure on completing this trial, but what they got was far more valuable than anything else they could have received.

* * *

 

-4D, private chatroom

Blair: Well?

Enlo: Well what?

Blair: How do you explain all that? Like Leon and Sula landing closest to a couple that just found out they’d never have kids.

Enlo: That was all luck, I swear.

Enlo: But if they hadn’t happened to be there, I would have found some way to get Leon adopted by someone on Expel. He was an infant, after all.

Blair: Fair enough. And Leon seems to be aware of you on some level.

Enlo: Yeah, he and Noel both have sensed me at times. They mistake me for an angel.

Blair: That’s quite off the mark.

Enlo: True, but I’m trying to work for good now. Promise.

Blair: I can see that.

Enlo: Even if I end up causing huge social unrest this lifetime too. It just seems to be a thing I do.

Blair: What?

Enlo: I don’t see how I can avoid it when I want to bring attention to how the Eternal Sphere could operate independent of 4D. The only reason I haven’t gone so far as to cut off everyone’s access is that it would be too jarring to a large percentage of the population that’s more dependent on the game than they realize.

Blair: My people are going to hate you if they learn that, even with your restraint.

Enlo: I know.

Enlo: Do you hate me for it?

Blair: Not yet. I have to think about that.

Enlo: I wouldn’t blame you for it if you did. You’re tied to the company so strongly that you’re an automatic hire on any restart.

Blair: The reason I wouldn’t hate you is because of all you’re doing to save the Eternal Sphere, even if you want to cut off access and kill the company almost entirely.

Enlo: Hey, Delrina could stand to be shaken up like this. We’re really stagnant here.

Blair: Hmm…

Enlo: I do feel really bad for Penny in all this. Her records show that she’s never been picked for a permanent job and I’m pretty sure that utility depends entirely on auto-hires too.

Blair: You think our people are victims of our system?

Enlo: Very much so.

Blair: CJ and Jeb both sent me notes about how Narl was saying that he thought Energy Nede had been stagnant far too long and has decided to destroy it instead of Expel.

Enlo: I saw that! Pretty extreme, but it’s convincing me more to stir up trouble on this side.

Blair: Don’t go too far.

Blair: I don’t know if you’ve been keeping tabs on those picking up Mirage’s charms to get out of it, but it’s a very low number.

Enlo: I wish I could say the same thing wouldn’t happen here if such a thing came up, but I’m afraid that it would.

Blair: And there’s huge interest in how this event is playing out, already being broadcast on the media networks. I’ve heard talk in the office about how a drama series could be in the works. But once all this information about Energy Nede’s populace gets out, I’m wondering if it will fall through or if censorship will hit it.

Enlo: Do you want that information to get out?

Blair: You have access to that information. Do what you want with it.

Enlo: Thank you.

Blair: Just warn me before you go organizing any riots, all right? So I know what places to avoid.

Enlo: Heh, of course.


	43. The Trials of Humility and Clarity

-4D, private chatroom

CJ*: Well, we’re through those trials now Good work, everyone!

Dano*: Not that it was difficult, save for the back side trial. The front side was standard dungeon fare. Though it was nice experience in the number of battles in later trials.

Jeb*: Kind of sad if most of the Nedians couldn’t get through those, even as NPCs. There’s usually a few who do manage.

Blair: There’s a handful of Nedians who did, such as Mirage and Marianna (the surviving general from the Fienal plaza battle).

Penny*: I wonder if they have to do all the backside trials too if they’re going solo. The guardian at the start said it was because we had a large group.

Dano*: That would be a challenge.

Ashe*: Or maybe the back side is optional?

Enlo*: The back side is optional; I just made it mandatory in this case because we needed it.

CJ*: It’ll be fun to watch all the trials later on, though I wish we could see Claude and Rena’s attempts too. Claude in particular, since he seemed so embarrassed.

Blair: I think we could manage that. Maybe even now while we’ve got time paused.

Penny*: Oh, yeah, I want to see how they did!

Nancy*: I think we should be most grateful that Leon somehow got through the Trial of Humility’s front side puzzle, since it said it’d block off those who couldn’t handle their pride.

Enlo*: Haha, well he is that way, but part of it’s bluffing.

Blair: Okay, I’ve got the videos for those two. This’ll be good, I’m sure.

* * *

 

-Trial of Humility, Claude

The first thing Claude saw on being transported to he back side of the trial was a teddy bear with a red ribbon around its neck; it was lying on the ground of a street in a large city, much like he was used to seeing on Earth. Now, it was almost strange to him. He’d been on Expel with its smaller towns and cities for quite a while, with abundant nature all around. Even on Energy Nede, Central City was not as dense and the buildings had a different appearance than those of Earth. This was almost certainly Earth; how did a place on Energy Nede mimic that? There seemed to be a number of people around, but they were like illusions since he couldn’t see any of them clearly.

“Excuse me?” a small voice came from nearby.

“Huh?” Claude glanced around, but the voice seemed to be coming from near the ground… the bear was talking to him.

That seemed to be right, since it said, without moving its mouth or anything, “Could you take me back to where I was? It’s just down the street, but I haven’t been able to get back myself.”

“Sure,” Claude said, picking up the bear. It was odd, but you never knew with these kinds of tests. “Where were you?”

“You’ll know it when we get there. Just take a left at the crosswalk up ahead and keep straight, thanks.”

Before he reached the turn, he spotted a TV in one of the shop windows nearby, playing what seemed to be a memorial program for his father. Normally he’d just move on by or try to switch the channel to something else. But this hurt. Claude could nearly imagine the situation in the bridge then, with an attack coming out of nowhere with no way to communicate with their attacker, no explanation for why they were being shot at. From the broadcast, he knew that Ronixis had tried to contact them (to which Cyril just laughed) and that he’d even tried to fire back after the second shot (Indalecio noted that it would have hit them, had not it been for shifting Energy Nede’s remaining shields around to absorb the Federation neutron cannons).

The teddy bear had something to say about it. “Everyone stands on the work of those who came before them. Even he did.”

“He talked about that a lot,” Claude said, watching the broadcast for a bit longer. “All the people who helped him and the great people he admired, he’d end up talking about them when others would try to say how great he was.”

“What do you say about your greatness?”

He blushed. “Well, I’m not great. Especially compared to the friends I’m traveling with, they all seem to be great in their unique ways. Three of them are professors, one’s a knight, another’s a master at swordsmanship, even Leon is often called master. I’m just doing what I can to help them.”

“Maybe you’ve just not been recognized for ti yet. You ever feel that way?”

“Well I have wished people would judge me on my own merit instead of placing all the credit to my father in what I’ve done,” Claude said, deciding to move on to the crossing. “Although I don’t think they’d judge me high, it would at least be fairer and less vitriolic.”

“True, false credit is just as bad as no credit.”

Waiting on the street conditions to be right, Claude began to feel people looking at him curiously for carrying around a teddy bear and a sword, along with wearing armor under his jacket. The Nedian armor was strong, but it still looked much like Renaissance fair material. It probably wasn’t the right time of year for that kind of thing. Watching the street crossing lights, he mentally counted backwards from twenty. If they cared enough to ask, he could always say that the bear was a gift. Or even the truth, since this was a trial and not a real city.

He then spotted another interesting broadcast on a TV, one that seemed to be about the Ten Wise Men from their original time. “I know we can stop Shigeo and the others; shouldn’t be a problem for us masters of the Raging Synard unit of the Nedian Special Armed Forces.” But the program was about the mage and others of that unit being wiped out entirely by some of the lesser members of the Ten Wise Men.

“Humility’s nearly always the first one people seem to forget about,” the bear said. “It’s easy to keep humble when you’re still learning and being tested. But once accepted, it’s easy to let it go to your head and forget to keep humility.”

“It’s one of those conflicting ideas,” Claude said. “About pride, I mean. You get told to be proud of what you’ve done, but also not to brag. Finding a middle ground in confidence would be best. I guess that’s why I couldn’t hate my father for long. He was confident but not overly proud. Plus, he was really great in many things.”

“Yes, it makes more people want to be around you and follow you,” the bear said. “The Nedians got too proud, even if they put humility as an important value. They didn’t want anyone else in power above them, so they batted down those who tried.”

“Was that what caused the war all that time ago?” he asked.

“One of several reasons, I believe. Don’t forget about humility.”

“I’ll try not to.” He then walked on down the street. He thought he heard some chuckles among the crowd. Maybe at him? Claude ignored them; it wouldn’t be worth it to fuss when the laughing might be about something else.

The next thing that got his attention was something he did not expect to see on a broadcast. Maybe because it was part of the test, but he saw a memory from his training days being played out. He was sitting on a couch in an office in a silently seething mood, a healing pack wrapped over one of his eyes and around one arm. Across from him were a couple of other trainees who were also in bad shape, glaring at him. He knew right away what it was about.

The training sergeant in the room was furious. “All of you are being immature!” he snapped. “You’ll be on leisure restrictions for the next month and will be carrying out cleaning duty the whole time. Got it?”

There had been an impulse in him to say it wasn’t his fault. But he knew it wouldn’t work. “Yes sir,” he said, as calmly as he could make it.

“All of us?” one of the guys who’d only joined in towards the end of it asked. “That’s not fair, sir.”

“You will because you were all involved!” the sergeant barked.

“What was that about?” the bear asked.

“A couple of those guys were harassing me because they thought I was getting favoritism due to who my father was,” he said. “I lost my temper and fought with them. Dumb move, but my father’s shadow was constantly following me and that’s when it started to really anger me. The sergeant broke us up and punished all of us. Actually, he was one of the few who definitely didn’t show favoritism towards me. Still didn’t like him because of how harsh he was, but it was better than those who tried to favor me.”

The bear, who Claude was almost sure was the guardian at this point, seemed to approve. “You made a mistake, but accepted the consequences and will admit to it. That is a good part of humility.”

“And good reason to avoid making that mistake again, but thanks,” he said.

Not far down the street, he found the spot where the bear was meant to be. It was obvious, since it was a sidewalk display of many teddy bears much like it. However, there was also a suspicious man standing in front of the toy store. He was different in that Claude could see him clearly, unlike the ghostly crowd around them. He wore a hooded gray cloak that reminded Claude of those thieves from the forest outside of Mars.

“That’s the guy that took me away from the others,” the bear said.

“A thief?” It seemed strange to steal a teddy bear from a public display, and then drop it a couple blocks away. But maybe the reason behind it wasn’t important. “What are you doing, sir?” Claude asked, going towards the display

But the gray thief, for whatever reason, got in his way. “What’s your interest in the teddy bears, huh chum?” he asked. “Aren’t you embarrassed to be carrying one around?”

“Not terribly much,” he said. “I’m returning it to where it should be. Did you really toss this one on another block?”

“Yeah, it bugs me that they’re all together here, so I’m gonna scatter them all about,” the thief said. “It’s got nothing to do with you, buzz off.”

Claude shook his head. “I won’t let you get away with such a ridiculous thing. Leave the bears be.”

“You think you can stop me?” the thief said, drawing a sword. If he belonged to this city, he could have easily had a gun or something worse. “I’ll rip that bear you have to shreds.”

“I said leave the bears be,” Claude said, blocking him with his sword.

It wasn’t easy trying to fight while he still had the teddy bear in his shield arm, but he kept hold of it while he fought the thief. Not only was that a problem, but the thief himself seemed to be made of a powerfully tough metal. Claude couldn’t explain it, but the resistance and sparks he got from trying to hit the thief was more than he’d expect out of armor alone. It hurt his sword arm trying to fight this way, so he moved to the side to lure the thief into pursuing him to the edge of the sidewalk before using a special move against him instead. Dragon Howl was something he’d figured out while watching Ashton fight with his dragons, although Claude only had guesses as to how his attack seemed to be summoning spirit dragons for a brief few seconds to help him attack. After a few attacks like that, the thief broke up into fragments of metal, not flesh.

“That was a robot?” he asked, puzzled at it. It had seemed quite human. Although, the ancient Nedians clearly had robotic technology based on fighting robots showing up in several of these trials.

“Seems to be,” the teddy bear in his arm said. “Thank you for fighting him for us.”

“No problem,” he said, going to set the bear on an empty spot on the display. “I did say I’d get you back; just wasn’t expecting to fight a robot to do so.”

The city and the toy shop display disappeared once the bear was on the shelf, leaving them in an empty room where the teddy bear was hovering in the air. “You’ve shown that you have a good balance with humility and confidence,” the bear said. “As I’ve said, please don’t forget to keep that. Long ago, fighting was a way to protect others from threats in monsters and enemy warriors. Keep using it like that, not to stomp down on others.”

“I’m not sure it was always that pure in intention,” Claude said, nervous for suggesting that but it was something he thought about. “But I do want to protect the others, not hurt those who are innocent.”

“I wish you the best in that effort. But I think you should have something more suitable for the role you’ve taken on.” The bear shook itself, making the sparkles appear in the air around Claude.

It entirely changed his armor around, from mostly silver mesh to a fine scale mail that was still lighter than it appeared. It was made to appear white and gold, almost angelic. Along with his armor, the bear had also changed his jacket, from a rather normal looking brown jacket to an armored brown and gold long coat, similar to what Ernest and Ashton had. The gold lines formed decorations like ankhs around the bottom (and wing outlines on his back, he later learned). His shield had been swapped for a golden one, with etchings that reminded him strangely of the goddess Athena from the ancient days of Earth. Lastly, his helm had been replaced by something that was nearly a crown with unseen magical shields.

“What is this stuff?” Claude asked, feeling embarrassed at the extravagant appearance. Wasn’t this the guardian of the trial of humility?

“This is what the Expellians were expecting their Warrior of legend to appear like,” the bear said. “You have taken on that role, right? To save Expel from its greatest threat in history, one it couldn’t fight itself?”

“I was trying to convince people that I wasn’t,” Claude said.

“That means that you’re well suited for the role,” the bear said, then sent him back to the front side of the trial.

When his friends showed up a couple minutes later from completing their part in the trial, the ones who were from Expel were stunned or amazed to see him like that. “Hey, there’s our angelic warrior,” Chisato teased him. “How’d it go?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Claude said. “Are the rest of you ready to keep going?”

* * *

 

-Trial of Clarity, Rena

The front of this trial had been another maze, this time with the underwater tunnels where the walls were clear, but the water made it difficult to see what the way ahead would lead to. It started off with a riddle, but before they could start making sense of it, Rena was sent here. In the back of the Trial of Clarity, there was a maze that made absolutely no sense. There were six different floating paths from where she started, all leading to doors with nothing beyond them. In the space around her, there were more doors on pathways that seemed impossible to follow: upside down, twisted, sideways, or worse.

“What is with this place?” she wondered aloud, putting a hand to her chin. “But… it is the trial of clarity. There must be some way to make the right path clear. Guess I just have to figure that out, then.”

She wished one of the others had come with her. They had figured out all the other puzzles and mazes, from experience or from special talents. But when it came to her, there hadn’t been a lot she could do to help them figure it out. Her role was keeping the rest of them healthy so they could focus on the puzzles or keeping the monsters away. Still, now they had Noel who also had healing magic and understood it far better than she did. They might not have much trouble working without her.

Still, she knew they were all having a hard time. It was so strange to be cut off from home, no matter how it had happened. Or there was Claude who’d lost his father recently; he probably wouldn’t be coming back when Mirage and the others reset Expel. Or Noel and Leon, who did seem to have gone through something tough in their trial (they seemed a lot closer to each other for it, though). Or Dias, who had mentioned that he wasn’t sure what he was going to return to when Expel came back. If all she could do was keep their spirits up and make sure they were healthy, then she would do that so they could all survive this and go home.

Just in thinking that, most of the paths available to her disappeared, leaving her with one way to go to one door. “If that’s what it takes,” she said, walking down the path and opening the door.

Although she couldn’t see another path when looking around the door, she could see one when looking through it. Going through the door brought her to another section of the maze, a part where some ways and stairs didn’t seem to be going the right way. On a signpost that didn’t make sense either, there was a brightly colored bird perched on top of it. She didn’t recognize what it was, but its plumage of red and orange should have been unmistakable. The bird tilted its head, then asked, “Where did your path begin?”

“On the other side of the door,” Rena answered.

The bird chuckled. “Literally, yes. Where did your path that brought you here to a trial on another world begin?”

“Oh, that? I suppose it started at my home in Arlia. The mayor asked Claude to investigate the Sorcery Globe, and I asked to go with him. I wanted to know what was causing all the disasters.”

“And?”

“Well I also hoped to find my birth mother in traveling,” Rena said, clasping her pendant. “But it seems like I came from here, they just can’t figure out how or who my mother might have been. It’s quite a thing for someone to have escaped from their shields.”

“Not quite right, but as the past is a haze, it’s as much as you can know.” The bird then took off from the sign and one of the paths fixed itself so that the stairs to it didn’t look quite as impossible.

“Do you know the truth?” Rena called after it, running to the sign. But the bird was nothing more than a bright dot darting around the darkness now. She took the path it had fixed to another door. This brought her to where the bird perched again, on top of a post. “Who is my birth mother?”

“Could you accept clarity on that?” the bird asked. “Most people would find the truth good to know, but the truths they have to find are normal and sensible. The truth you seek to find… it’s abnormal. It’s possibly beyond belief, but the truth is the truth and clarity shows it is possible. Would you accept the answer if you could barely understand it?”

She thought about it, but only one answer came to her. “Well, I can’t be sure until I hear it.”

“Acceptable.” The bird then took off and fixed another path making her chase it down again. When she found it, the bird was preening, but it paused in fixing its wing feathers to ask her, “What was causing the disasters on Expel and why did they happen?”

Feeling that the bird wouldn’t want a quick answer, she reviewed all that had happened in her mind. Some parts of it she wasn’t sure of, but she came up with something to tell it. “We thought the disasters were caused by the Sorcery Globe. That was partially true, but the Sorcery Globe and these Quadratic Keys were only tools to make the disaster happened. All this trouble happened because of the Ten Wise Men. They had no feelings towards Expel, as to them, it was simply an acceptable sacrifice to get what they wanted: coming here to Energy Nede and activating the Crest of Annihilation. Their leader Indalecio wants to destroy the whole universe with it, but I think Cyril and maybe others would rather have it active as a threat in order to take over the universe instead. I’m not sure why they don’t just get rid of Indalecio, but not a lot is known about them. All the things we thought were disasters, like the earthquakes, the destruction of places like Clik, and the demons, those were all side effects of what the Ten Wise Men were doing. Or even diversions because they like to make others suffer.”

“Very good,” the bird said, taking off again.

“I’d like to know why you’re making me chase you around for this,” Rena said, going over the now cleared path to the next doorway.

In the next area, the bird was on another post. “I’m doing this because my role is to see if those taking the trials do have clarity of mind and purpose,” it said. “I could simply question you about it, but this is more fun for me. I like making mazes.”

Smiling she nodded. “I suppose if that was your only job, you’d do what was fun for you.”

“Working and having fun is almost like not working,” the bird said with a happy trill. “And I do have a lot of free time, since not a lot of people get this far. So then, why does Indalecio want to exterminate the universe?”

She thought about it again before saying, “I’m not entirely sure, since it doesn’t make sense to me. It seems like he’s going way too far in revenge when those who might have hurt him are trillions of years in the past. But if I had to guess, I think it has something to do with Filia. She mentioned that he was her father and that his mind was broken beyond repair, yet he was still trying to protect her too much.”

“If you don’t know, you don’t know,” the bird said. “Still, good guess. When you’re finished with the trials, you ought to find someone named Reyfus and ask him. He can make things clear, far more than anyone else on Energy Nede. Come on, one more time!” The bird took off for another part of the maze.

“All right,” Rena said, running down the fixed path to find the bird again.

But when she stepped through the door, she wasn’t met with a small bird perched on a post. She was met with a huge bird that was hovering in the air, slowly beating wings that were the size of a ship’s sails. “Well you’re not the smartest or the wisest or the strongest of your group,” the bird said. “But you have a strong heart, as well as a clearly thinking mind. You may yet become wise. And, your friends would like you to be with them. A group can be greater together than any of the people included can be alone.”

“I know we’re like that,” Rena said. “I’ll do my best for them, with whatever I can do.”

“Good. Now, you really want to know the truth of your birth parents?”

She nodded. “Yes. You know about them?”

The bird cackled. “I am an ancient being, girl. I have seen many attempt these trials before you, many whom I knew how far they would get by seeing the clarity in their minds and hearts when they started. Still, we have not seen such a concentration of good potentials such as your group in an extremely long time. Perhaps never. I may be ancient, but I am not ancient enough to have known your parents.”

“What?” Rena asked. How could it not be ancient enough? Hadn’t it existed for these trials as long as they had been in existence?

“I was born to reign as a judge in these trials on Energy Nede six hundred trillion years ago, just about,” the bird said. “Yet I have heard of you… born a hundred years before I was born. Your parents were researchers of heraldry for the original planet of Nede, although their lab was located on an uninhabited planet far from Nede itself. Your mother in particular was brilliant; Reema invented many things which the most advanced society currently could not recreate, neither the Pangalactic Federation nor the residents of Energy Nede could complete what she had made. But she also invented something incredibly destructive: the Crest of Annihilation.”

“She made that?” Rena asked, feeling a chill. Although her mind was still reeling at the thought of so much time so long ago.

Thankfully, the bird said, “She didn’t intent to. It was the result of a theory for what she wanted and she immediately said that the crest shouldn’t be studied further. However, those working with her disagreed and drew up an active crest to test. It destroyed the lab and everyone inside, but it could have been a far worse disaster. On finding out that the crest had been made and activated, Reema was able to reconfigure it to a less destructive form.”

“But it still destroyed them. How is that less destructive?”

“I don’t believe you would understand the full explanation,” the bird said. “A lot of it could be understood through heraldic science the Nedians currently know. But the problem was containing and redirecting energy, like redirecting the flow of water in a swollen river to prevent it from flooding an area.”

“That’s not easy to do,” she said, recalling times when her family had worried about the small river by their home getting inside during heavy rains.

“Neither is redirecting heraldic energy on that level,” it said. “But she did it, by sending a container out of time to emerge far into the future. It was also theory, so the container they had could not fit an adult. It could fit a small child, so she decided to save you from the lab’s destruction by putting you inside and sending you out of time to land in the future. That is why you can never find your parents, because you cannot return that far in the past to meet them. Now, do you believe me in this story?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “It happened so long ago. But Mirage said she could trace where my key came from. And this isn’t the first time I’ve heard of Reema. We didn’t believe it before since it came from one of the demons.”

“One of the demons under control of the Ten Wise Men,” the bird said. “That’s why Shin was sent to find you, to tell you that story because he heard about it from them.”

“Why would they want to let me know that?” Rena asked.

“Now that is hard to say,” the bird said. “Some might do it because it amuses them to prove how much better they are than everyone else, no matter in what way it is. Some might do that because they do value truth amid all their vices. Some might even wish to do it because it would fulfill your original personal goal in this quest, in hopes that it with other factors will get you to leave the group. If they could take out any of you, I’m sure they'd want you out first.”

“Why me?” she asked.

“You seem most dangerous to them. You’re a Nedian healer; you saw what the girl on their team could do with her magic. Your group even determined that she was one of the greatest threats because she could keep the others going; that is a wise view. Perhaps the other heraldic healer knows more, but they are biased to think that Nedians are best at anything. Also, you have a quadratic key; the Sorcery Globe is a quadratic sphere. Perhaps it does not mean much to you, but that means that you are the only conduit that could allow the Crest of Annihilation to be changed by taking control of the quadratic sphere that powers it. I suppose you could give the key to another, but you have worn that one for many years and it will respond best to you. That is why you are vital in this plan to defeat them and undo the destruction of Expel.”

“It was able to happen much faster because of my key,” Rena said, still feeling some guilt for that. “But if it’s what will reverse it, it would make up for what it did before, right?”

“It happened without your consent,” the bird said. “But I’m sure everyone will be grateful when you do this. Now, you want to help others? Take this.” He made a large book appear in front of her, with a leather cover with gold leaf lettering. Inside, the pages had been written out in beautiful ink script, and in the Expellian language it seemed (it didn’t give her the weird feeling of being off when reading Energy Nede’s language or trying to follow the lips of the non-Expellians). “We would be honored for you to keep this, but at this time, you will need to give it to Leon and Noel to make use of what is there.”

She checked on the title. “Oh, it’s a discussion on the seven trials and all of you guardians?”

The bird nodded. “Correct, and if you check the back, it had several blank pages for notes. We guardians have placed a number of spells and special moves there that most of you should be capable of learning. Have the two of them decipher the runes to teach them to who would best use what. You might even let Leon borrow the book for the upcoming battle, since his spell casting works best with a book in hand. But I think you should study it once this is all over.”

“Thank you, I’ll do my best,” Rena said, giving the guardian a curtsy.


	44. The Battle of L'Aqua

-L’Aqua cafeteria, Opera

Opera had a feeling that when someone completed the seven trials, there was probably a celebration for their accomplishment. But instead of that, they went back to L’Aqua for dinner and a night of rest before they went to tackle the problem of taking out the Ten Wise Men. Rena had come back with a book that she discussed with the other mages; apparently it had some things for them to learn in it. Not only that, but she asked about a person named Reyfus, whom Chisato said she could reach to come over here. He and Mirage came over after dinner to tell them about the real history behind the Ten Wise Men. Apparently, the Nedian military from long ago had hidden it because it reflected badly on them.

It was quite a tale. They had not been born but created by a man named Dr. Isreafal Lantis who was thought by current day Nedians to be a beneficial genius who developed the technologies that allowed them to make their artificial world safe. However, he was actually an ambitious man who gave the Ten Wise Men more power than the Nedian military had asked for, as well as such a lax discipline that they would attack indiscriminately just for the fun of it. Cyril even started undermining the Nedian military simply because he could. Trying to get Cyril contained, the Nedian military had stormed Lantis’ lab while he was out. They weren’t able to get Cyril or Lantis, but they did end up killing Lantis’ daughter Filia. Reyfus said that it seemed to have been an accidental casualty and the military lied about taking her into custody for her protection.

When Lantis found out about that, he was furious and told the Ten Wise Men to take over the galaxy from the Nedian government. He also put himself into Indalecio while somehow reviving his daughter from being more than two weeks dead by placing her mind into the angelic healer’s body. This led to a violent battle between the Ten Wise Men and the Nedian military, which was only broken when Indalecio, in a fit of paranoia or insanity, created a prison that was supposed to be impenetrable from either side. He locked himself and the others inside it.

Then Noel told them the rest of the story. He, his wife, and their child Leon (just a baby at the time) had been on a starship near Energy Nede when the ship picked up the locking device to the Ten Wise Men’s prison. After threatening his family, Cyril had possessed Noel to release them. He had killed the rest of the crew through Noel so that the Ten Wise Men could use the energy of their deaths to bring themselves out of the prison entirely and onto the ship, which they then tore apart. Much of that wreckage landed on Expel where Precis’ family and others picked through it; that was also how Leon ended up on Expel. Meanwhile, Indalecio spared Noel long enough to hurl him onto Energy Nede to see what it would take to pass through the shield. In some miracle, Noel survived it and was taken in by the people on Energy Nede

“But in that time, I picked up on strife within the Ten Wise Men,” Noel said. “It seems some of you have also heard pieces of it through the trial guardians, but part of the group wants to go with Indalecio’s plan of using the Crest of Annihilation to destroy absolutely everything, including themselves. While the crest creates a great deal of energy, it needs a great deal of energy simply to start it. That is why they sacrificed Expel like they did. The other part wants to get rid of Indalecio and take over the galaxy, led primarily by Cyril. Neither faction is safe to leave alive.”

“Then we’ll have to be sure to get rid of all of them,” Opera said. “What about the crest? Do they have it already active or complete or what?”

“From the flow of mana around Energy Nede, it seems they have it complete but not activated,” Mirage said. “It’s been completed for nearly a day now. I hope they’re waiting on something else to happen before activating it. Still, I don’t think you all should jump right into fighting them. Get some rest and tried to be fully prepared tomorrow. I will too, since I’m going with you.”

“You are?” Rena asked.

She nodded. “I’ve got the crest modifiers complete now; all my calculations come up fine. But it depends on the forbidden crest, so I need to be there to overlay it. I’ll talk you through using the quadratic key with the Sorcery Globe to get things completed. Don’t worry, your part’s not much different from casting, so you shouldn’t have a problem with it.”

“Okay, I’m sure I can handle it with your help,” she said, nodding back.

“We should spend tonight making sure we’re mentally prepared for this,” Dias said. “We’ve been given a lot of help, but this battle has the same risk as any to be our last.”

“Plan for the worst and hope for the best, right?” Opera said.

Right then, an alarm blared and made them all tense. Opera reached for her weapon (as did several others) just before a loud blast shattered all the windows on the far wall of the cafeteria. A group of seven NDF members were eating at another table, but they quickly had shields up around their area as six of the Ten Wise Men came in through the shattered windows. Based on the pictures and videos Reyfus had brought… the two mages Nicolus and Jibril were coming in from the far end, closer to the NDF members, while the shooter Shigeo was barreling through the center. And from the side closest to their group, the fighter Marsilio and the mage-fighter Ruprecht were rushing at them, with the heavily armored Berle not far behind them. “Now you lot will die!” Marsilio shouted.

Claude quickly leapt out of his seat to cover Rena; she’d been on the side of the table closest to the windows, so she ran back towards the wall where Reyfus and Mirage were. At the other end of the table, Noel and Leon went to join them, with the former quickly bringing up an earthen wall shield to protect them. Ernest and Chisato promptly jumped on and over the table, joining the other fighters who were on that side. This battle was quickly begun.

As for Opera, she was caught on the other side of the table, not quite in Noel’s shield. But that was fine; her gear could take more damage if one of them made it over here. She took her rifle and prepared to support the fighters from behind. Claude and Dias were both crossing swords with Marsilio, who had his own giant sword but summoned up another blade to hover by him. If it had been anyone else facing those two, she would have said they were screwed (especially when Rena started off by throwing blessings on them). Chisato had used her speed demon-bunny boots to chase off after Shigeo, keeping him busy enough with her quick attacks that he wasn’t able to use his missiles like last time.

Opera ended up shooting at Ruprecht, in part because Precis was trying to engage him on her own in close quarters. Ernest was helping her out too, sending his whip around her to attempt a stunning blow on Ruprecht. While it didn’t fully stun him, it slowed him just enough that Precis was able to send out her mechanical fist to grab hold of him by his neck and hurl him at Berle. The armored Wise Men had his shield up so he wasn’t hurt, but Ruprecht landed in a painful looking twist. Unluckily for him, a swarm of the Extinction fireballs filled the room aimed for them; Leon must have gained sufficient control over that spell for him to feel comfortable using it. It put Ruprecht down for good.

Meanwhile, Ashton had stayed near the table surrounding himself with a whirling cluster of mana. He had been one of the ones that Noel had managed to interpret a skill for in time to pass the instructions over to him during dinner. When he activated Tri-ace, it looked nothing like his usual heraldic dueling skills. This seemed to be more of an outright spell, or a divine smiting given the prismatic shafts of light piercing through their six enemies. If Extinction hadn’t killed Ruprecht, Tri-ace had, as well as Marsilio who couldn’t handle the damage from it, Claude, and Dias. But Berle still had his shield up. Shigeo soon rushed over to them, pursued by Chisato still.

Then a wave of water crashed through the room, cast by one of the Wise Men as it hurt them. Opera quickly fired off Healing Star, countering most of that damage to their group. Hopefully the NDF group on the other side of the room had their own healer, as her skill wouldn’t reach them. Berle charged up some attack, dismissing his shield in order to slam his sword into the ground to send a powerful shockwave after them. Opera fired immediately on seeing the shield go down, while Ashton grabbed his swords again and ran straight through the shockwave in order to attack him directly; the others had gotten briefly stalled by it, but Claude quickly joined Ashton in attacking Berle while Dias rushed towards Shiegeo, jumped up, and bisected him through his torso.

That just left two, who were still on the other side of the room trying to get through to the NDF group which had decided to turtle itself around the table and fire their mostly ineffectual spells at the pair. It at least kept Jibril and Nicolus from casting. “Noel, drop your shield and all of you cast offensive magic,” Claude shouted at the mages.

“Sure,” Noel said, dismissing his shield. This was soon followed by Rena casting the brightly cascading Star Flare, Leon finishing off his second round of Extinction, and Noel following up with a rush of hot air in Foehn. Nicolus crumpled quickly, but Jibril barely endured all of it in order to warp over to them… and immediately get slammed by Precis’ punching arm, finishing him off.

“Is that the end of that group?” Claude asked, somewhat in disbelief.

“I no longer hear their minds,” Noel said. “They’re gone.”

“Wooo, that’s over half down in one go!” Precis said, beaming as she spun around towards the others.

“The last four are the most powerful of the group, though,” Noel said.

Over at the wall, Mirage said, “True, but you’ve all done well. I hope you can get a night’s worth of sleep before they decide to come over as well.”

Reyfus got up from where he’d crouched down against the wall. He was clutching at his chest and looked pale. “I, I never expected to be so close to battle,” he said. “But that was magnificent, thank you. I suppose I’d best get back to my work with the library database.”

“Thanks for coming to tell us about them,” Rena said, then went to make sure they were all okay.

All that preparation and half their work was done in a flash. Opera felt glad for it, though. This danger need to be removed as quickly as they could, so that the world of Expel could come back to life. Hopefully Mirage could pull through on her promises and theories.

* * *

 

-Chisato

Chisato had decided to go to bed early after the unexpected battle in the cafeteria. This was because she wanted to get up early, hopefully when times were quiet here and the others weren’t quite awake. Since it seemed to have worked, she left a note where the others should find it and went outside to watch the sunrise.

False sunrise technically. There was no sun for Energy Nede, only a light source on the edges of their shield that mimicked day and night for them. The weather could be whatever the Nedians decided, at least the few who understood the weather generators. From a story she’d done years ago, she knew that the generators were mostly left to standard patterns unless a special event called for particular weather. Most Nedians on Energy Nede didn’t care to tamper with forces like that.

Of course, most of them just plain didn’t seem to care unless their daily routines were disrupted. They lived idle lives and never thought to try living anything beyond that. Perhaps because of that attitude, not many of Mirage’s escape talismans had been given out. Most of those who had taken them were the occasional parent who wanted to save the rare child from an early death, usually taking another for themselves to watch over their child. But Eenrgy Nede was kept to strict population guidelines and lives were, for the most part, however long the person wanted to be around. There weren’t many children. Thus there weren’t many to escape with one of their guardians or parents. Even with her article talking about the potential for an exiting new life that would actually be a new thing to all, the Nedians were too comfortable in their routines and safety to leave it even when Energy Nede would be completely ended.

“No wonder Narl could get away with what he did,” she grumbled. “Nobody would care to argue with him over it.”

The false sunrise was a pretty thing, if the same sunrise she’d seen for much of her life. The light source appeared on the horizon arbitrarily decided to be east (because the livable space on Energy Nede was one flat plane with occasional mountains and oceans for variance). It spread out across the water, quickly brightening into daytime light. There was no reason for it to rise, since it could have easily been put in one place and just turned on and off with the cycles. There wasn’t much reason for it to move across the sky, save for some aesthetics in shifting light and shadow through the arbitrarily decided ‘day’.

She wondered for a little while if this was going to be the last false sunrise she’d see here on Eenrgy Nede. And if she’d end up missing any of this. There were good things, like particular restaurants that she liked to visit, or even the library in North City. There wasn’t anything she could really call bad… but there were a lot of dull and boring things too. She would end up on a real world, with real excitement and real news. Real change… maybe it’d be something even she would have to get used to, as much as she wanted to see it happen.

She did feel a little bad, because she’d agreed with Narl’s request that the rest of the group besides her and Noel not be told what would happen to Energy Nede until the end. It never felt right to keep important information away like that. However, he had one of his rare good ideas that if they knew, they might be reluctant to do what was needed in getting rid of the Ten Wise Men for good and bringing Expel back to life.

“Are you going to miss this place?” Noel asked, having quietly come out near her.

“A little,” she admitted. “I’m not entirely sure what I’ll be doing with myself. I know Expel fairly well, but they don’t even have widespread newspapers for a reporter like me to work for. And if I went to the Pangalactic Federation somehow, I don’t know if I could keep up with their news groups when my experience is with sleepy old Energy Nede where nothing hardly changes.”

“I think you can adapt,” he said.

“What about you?” she asked. “Are you going to try to go home?”

“Not immediately,” he said. “I would like to get back to Roark eventually, if only to see who’s still around that would remember me. But Leon will go back to Expel, so I want to go with him. Meet his adopted parents, maybe help them out with a few things. If the Pangalactic Federation decides not to contact Expel, then I won’t mind staying there. If they do, I’ll bring Leon to Roark so he can see where he ultimately comes from.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Chisato said, smiling. “And good to see you more hopeful now, actually looking forward to the future.”

Noel rubbed his head. “I didn’t think I had a future where my situation would change until recently. But I can move on with my life now.” He paused, then looked over at her. “Do you want to come with us?”

“You want to take me along?” That was odd, since they had mostly been acquaintances all these years. And, “I’ve been an annoyance to you much of the time, I’m sure.”

He chuckled. “A little. But Mirage and I are the only ones you’d really know after escaping, so I thought you might like some familiarity. That is, if Mirage decides to leave. I’m not sure if she’s decided.”

Chisato frowned. “In that case, I may have to convince her, if only to see that her plan works in full. I think about it; thanks Noel.”

Or maybe he was the one hoping for a little familiarity after his life got completely disrupted once again. She’d have to keep that in mind.

* * *

 

-Precis

Things were happening so fast. The pace of their adventure had been exciting from the moment she left her hometown of Linga, but then it just started racing about the time they were approaching the Eluria coast on the Lacour ships. From rowing to shore with Ashton to surviving on the beach, then finding out there were so many not from Expel in their group, then flying up to the tower and getting the world destroyed and going through what were supposed to be super advanced adventurer trials... it was kind of crazy to think about all that occurred when it had barely been a week since arriving at Eluria! Of course, some of it wasn't good. But some was great, like making an upgraded arm and boosting Bobot's fighting capacity enormously.

Still, maybe there was more she could do to make sure that she would be extra helpful in these last battles. “Leon!” she shouted as soon as she spotted him coming into the cafeteria that morning. “Good morning!”

“Uh, good morning,” the younger boy said, eying her suspiciously. “What are you so boisterous about this early? We're going into enemy territory in a few hours.”

“Well why not be in a good mood and hope to boost the odds that way?” she asked. “Actually, I wanted to ask you if you thought I could use customization with my punching arm. Cause I think I can, but I don't have a reference on hand to figure out more than I've got.”

Leon spent a moment thinking it over. “Well... I don't see why not. I've used it on that cannon we worked on and a few other complex machines can be altered by customization.”

“Awesome! So I just gotta figure out names to call them, and also about the circle thingy...” she went over to where her drawings were and checked them.

“Doesn't your weapon come with a name, like the others?” Leon asked, following her over.

She shook her head. “Nope, guess it's because Listelle doesn't have my punching arms listed. They're totally new. Here, check it out with your spell?”

“All right...” he cast the spell on the arm on the table, then frowned. “You're right, it just says 'device made by Precis'. Huh.”

“I call it my Super-Duper Punchy Arm, or SD Punch for short,” she said, taking a compass to being a circle. “Now you put in the stats for this one here, and then the results you want here, and then figure out what needs to change between them in the middle. Easy-peasy.”

“Wait, wait, wait, I don't think your distribution is even,” Leon said, getting on the bench by the table to look closer. “Your metal aura might interfere with the electric.”

“No it won't,” she insisted. “Cause the arm needs electric power to work, and I've got it fit right to the power source, um, the battery I think it was called, that I got from Mirage, so the metal and electricity work like that. Besides, the electrical wires are kept inside casings that don't let it escape. Insulation casing, they said. You don't get zapped by a live wire if you touch the insulation part, though you should still be careful.”

“Well do you have any of these insulation numbers or runes to add? Because failure due to mistakes in scribing the circle can be painful rather than just disappointing and expensive.” They discussed it for a while, reminding Precis of such talks with her father. People visiting them occasionally would think they were arguing, which might be the case here with her and Leon. While it was invigorating (especially first thing in the morning), she wasn't sure if she liked this better or if she preferred working with people like Opera and Mirage who knew what she was doing even if she didn't and would answer questions in ways to provoke other questions. Both had their merits in development.

When they got a circle they both agreed on (if Leon doing so reluctantly), Precis started up the customization by picking one of the two stones she liked and mimicking what Leon did. And, it worked! The arm got absorbed in a glow, then reappeared as… well something that looked a lot like it had before, but she could see some differences in the way the joints were made. Maybe it was more different on the inside.

Leon cat identify on it again. “It’s grown more powerful, I can tell you that much. It might even protect you a little bit more. Still doesn’t have a name to it.”

“Then I’ll call it my Ultra Good Ace Punchy Arm,” Precis said. “Do you think I could do it again?”

“Probably, but the success rate is lower than the first in nearly every circumstance,” he said.

“Then let’s do it again!” she said, starting a new circle.

“Shouldn’t you check on the machinery inside?” Leon asked, startled at her eagerness.

“Oh yeah, that’d probably help make it right,” she said, finishing the circle parts, but then taking a small screwdriver to open the arm up.

Leon sighed. “One would think, with your devotion to science, that you’d be more careful and diligent.”

“Well science is just trying a bunch of stuff until it actually works, and then figuring out what made it work,” Precis argued.

“I would think that it’s more important to figure out how it should work first and then experimenting.”

“Eeee, this is a lot cleaner and nicer looking that I made it,” she said, examining the wiring and circuitry. “That’s great, cause I wasn’t really in a workshop and that was the first time I was using some of those tools.” She made some notes, with Leon’s identify spell helping out at points, then worked out another customization design.

This time, it was easier to see what had changed outwardly. There were more points where the arm could extend rapidly, so its reach was more than doubled. The knuckles also looked reinforced, but it still had the white and pink color scheme she had picked out. “Wow, that’s quite an impressive improvement from what it was,” Leon said. “Maybe not as powerful as some of the swords the guys have, but given that throwing move you used last time, there’s a lot more unexpected things you could do in battle with a weapon like this.”

“Yeah!” She opened it back up to see how it was inside. “Thanks for helping, Leon! That was fun; we should work together more often.”

“Um, I didn’t do much besides identify parts,” he said.

“But I like talking with you while working; it’s great. So what’s it called?”

“I don’t know,” he said, twitching his ears. “It still doesn’t have a name. but, well, your first one was the SD Punch, right? And then you had… UGA Punch, so how about SDUGA Punch?”

“Oo, that sounds cool! Gotta come up with a cool name based off that, um,” she paused, looking at it and thinking.

“Can’t you just use what the others stood for?”

“Not all of them! Okay, so it’ll be… the Super Delicious Ultra Great Atomic Punch! That works, I like that. Oh hey, that piece is different. But looks kinda like something Mirage had that I decided not to use.”

Leon seemed more confused by the name than impressed. “What’s Atomic mean?”

Precis shrugged. “Dunno, but it sounds awe-inspiring, doesn’t it? Opera said something like that when I was asking her questions about her ship, so it’s got to be super advanced.”

“I guess,” he said. “And how does a mechanical arm that punches count as delicious?”

“Well if you call something delicious, you love it, right? That’s why. I certainly wouldn’t want to eat it.”

“You’re so weird,” Leon said, although he was watching her look over the machinery. “Still, it could be interesting to see what we’d actually come up with working together.”

“Yeah, it’s a promise then!”

“Hey, have you kids gotten something to eat yet?” Ernest asked as he walked by with his breakfast.

“Nope!” Precis said. “I had an idea I just had to work on first.”

“Somehow I got roped into helping her, so I haven't either,” Leon said, getting out of his chair.

“You’d better get something then, since we want to leave in good time,” Ernest said.

“Yeah, I’ll get to it,” Precis said, shutting the arm back up before reattaching it to its base inside her backpack.

* * *

 

-Dias

The windows in the room they called the cafeteria were still broken, although the glass, blood, and other debris had been cleaned up off the floor. Dias didn’t like it and told one of the NDF soldiers that. “Your headquarters is awful about security. I don’t think you’d even need the power of the Wise Men to tear this place apart.”

“Well, this is the closest our world has been to war,” the soldier said. She shrugged. “Not that it’ll matter for long.”

“Keep up that attitude and you will have trouble,” he said.

“I don’t think you quite understand,” she said, but then stopped short of explaining why she wasn’t concerned about the building’s security.

Dias was about to try explaining his point again when the alarm went off. “We’ve got three more of the Wise Men, outside the front of the building,” someone called into the room.

“That’s why you should be worried,” he said, then headed out the quickest way he could see (through the big gaping hole that the windows left behind). He was ready for battle, as usual.

They weren’t right outside the building, but further away past the asphalt on the ground, near the ferry pier. As there were only four left, Dias as soon able to figure out who they were dealing with. There was Vesper, the battle mage who’d nearly taken out Claude’s eyes in the Fienal battle. And there was Decus, the one he’d fought there who had been unconcerned at the time about losing limbs; there seemed to be a gray scar on his torso that he could just make out at this distance, possibly the remains of his Hope of Breeze sword. Finally, there was that cocky bastard chatterbox with white hair, so Cyril must be leading this smaller group. This time, Cyril was sporting eight fragmented red wings. It was hard to tell if it was decorative or not, but he was hovering off the ground this time around.

Their group was all outside before long; Rena even cast a new spell over them all, with just one casting. “That should make attack magic have a lesser effect on us,” she said. “I think we’re going to need it this time.”

“I agree with that,” Noel said. “If we can, we should get Vesper taken out first, and quickly; he’s the most talented at curses and other spells that would last after the battle.”

“Good idea,” Claude said. “Will you handle that, Dias?”

He nodded. “Will do.”

“I’ll see about keeping him busy until you can get over there,” Chisato said.

Any more planning didn’t get a chance to be made, since Decus and Cyril combined efforts to send a firestorm straight for them. The atrocious heat reminded him of their meeting on Eluria Tower; it quickly set the L’Aqua building ablaze. While he could feel the oppressive fire all around them, he could also feel Rena’s blessing working hard to keep him safe. It may have saved them all from being roasted right off the bat.

There was laughter from far overhead as Cyril flew higher in the air and taunted them from nearly above them. “So glad you could survive that, little worms. I would have been disappointed if this didn’t take but a few seconds. We’re going to be squashing you most thoroughly before we go take on that buggy fool Indalecio.”

The other two had been running to meet with them in front of the building, but Decus was the one who came closest to Dias. Vesper tried to get to the other side of the asphalt area (now horribly smelly and soft) to set up whatever he was going to do. Trying to keep out of this battle, Dias parried Decus’ fist, not even getting a scratch out of it. “Hehehe, I’m looking awful more badass with your little gift, don’t you think?” Decus taunted him.

Dias frowned, but didn’t attack him. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash as Chisato hurried off to catch Vesper. Hopefully she was okay on her own for a short while. Precis soon whacked Decus across the face with her punching arm from eight feet away, while Ashton appeared next to Dias ready to take over. Nodding, Dias quickly stepped back so Ashton could make a thrusting attack; it wasn’t his strongest, but it got him in place. Dias then ran across the battlefield as quickly as he could.

“We were able to take out the other six when they came,” Claude said, not quite in the battle yet. Then again, it might be good to keep the chatty one talking so that he wasn’t casting. “And we’ll take you three out as well, for Expel and the Calnus.”

Cyril seemed amused at that. “Them? Actually, I have to thank you for getting rid of those weaklings. Most of them were on his side and what ones weren’t aren’t strong enough for our purposes. We deserve to rule the universe and you all deserve death for trying, if in vain, to defeat us. At least we’re being kind enough to offer you a hero’s death, am I right?”

Meanwhile, Vesper was trying to blast Chisato with a spell. Her boots made her too nimble for him to hit, though. When the spell ended, Dias tried to wave her back. He needed to go down fast, so it was best if he didn’t see Dias’ approach. Chisato seemed to realize that too, so she struck him in the chest with an attack that fired off huge sparks, then sidestepped to put Vesper between the two of them.

And it worked. Vesper was annoyed enough at her attack that he turned to blast her again, turning his back to Dias. The only armor he was wearing was a vest and pants, if those were armor pieces instead of tough looking clothing. Jumping as he drew his sword, he went to cut through past his neck. There was a brief resistance from a magical barrier, but Farwell shattered it with no loss of momentum and went through a clean decapitation. That was good, another one of these dangerous men down.

“Grisly skill, but good one,” Chisato said, to which Dias shrugged and turned to see how the rest of the battle was going.

Cyril was still being a coward and flying overhead, although Ernest and Opera were both forcing him to constantly be on the move because they could still reach him, as could their mages (but the one spell he saw strike Cyril directly didn’t seem to do a lot to him). On the ground, Ashton, Claude, and Precis were fighting against Decus and his close-range flames. Thankfully, he hadn’t yet melted anyone else’s weapon. It didn’t seem like it was easy to tell where exactly he was with the haze from his magic. Dias felt sure that once one of them got a good hit on him, he should go down quickly too. Although they were all risking getting seriously hurt by those flames even with Rena’s help.

“Well, so you’ve taken Vesper down quickly,” Cyril said, finally noticing after half a minute. “Don’t think that…”

He was quickly interrupted by a scream of rage from Decus, who hurled Ashton out of the way to fly across the distance like a fireball. Chisato bolted out of the way, but Dias held his ground for a brief time before dodging out of the way and slashing Decus as he overshot him. From the feel of it, he’d only cut his skin, and barely at that. He didn’t put his sword away, because he needed it to block Decus’ next attack. The flames swept across his ear and might’ve set his hair on fire, but Dias wasn’t focusing on that. The one needed to go down next.

Behind him, there was a crash of thunder and the thud of someone falling onto the asphalt. From the sound of it, he figured that Ernest had knocked Cyril out of the air. Dias didn’t like having his back to another one of the Wise Men, so he attacked Decus back with the intent of moving around him so that he could better see a possible attack from Cyril. Decus was too angry at him to pay heed to that tactic and before long it seemed that the swirl of fire around them both would keep him from seeing anything but Decus.

Then a deluge of water struck them both. Dias took it a lot better than Decus, giving him the chance to strike freely at the Wise Man’s arm. While he didn’t take it off this time, that should cut the threat of his fiery punches. Much of the fire around them died off with the water wave spell, plus a healing spell that hit Dias. Decus’ eyes were glowing bright red, his face twisted up in hatred. “Forget burning in hell, you’re gonna burn right here!” he shouted, setting off a wave of fire to match that wave of water.

A shock of sparks went off behind Decus’ back, passing by him and barely missing Dias; looked like Chisato’s attack. This was the right moment, so he slash at Decus four times in a row. A second wall of water struck them, knocking Decus down for good. But just in case, Dias took off his head too, in time for a massive explosion of wind (that was the only thing he could think to call it right off) to blow the body and head off the asphalt.

Cyril was raving now, trying to get back in the air, but the wing generating device around his torso was sparking and smoking now. “You worms can’t win! Only I deserve to win! You’re all going to suffer for centuries because…” and then Ashton and Claude attacked him at once, shutting him up once and for all.

Claude looked around quickly, confirming that the other two were dead. “Everyone all right?”

“Seems like all of us are on our feet,” Noel said as Dias and Chisato went over to the others. “Then we’re going into Fienal Tower after the most powerful one.”

“We can still get this done!” Precis said, raising a fist in the air.

Leon had come over to meet the two of them. “I’m sorry about hitting you with Noah too,” he said. “But you were both on fire and that could have gotten deadly.”

“That’s fine,” Dias said.

Chisato then brushed some of his hair away, making him lean away. But she did have some blackened hairs in her hand. “And that’s all you’re going to say about that? You’ve lost a chunk of hair.”

He shrugged. “Better my hair than my life. Thanks, Leon.”

Rena cured him again, but wanted one of the Nedian healers to check on him as well to make sure he wasn’t badly burned. Dias agreed to it, if only to make sure they wouldn’t keep him from going to the tower as well. While they were only after one man, they were going onto his territory to attack. That meant that they could be facing anything; he wouldn’t like letting Rena and the others go without him.


	45. Indalecio's Wrath

-4D, chatroom

Blair: I’m just stopping in for a moment to say I won’t be able to play Leon for the Fienal Tower invasion. My team has a lot on hand with securing the data on the Ten Wise Men you’ve already defeated and with what I’ve seen, I want to get to work on Indalecio as soon as he goes down.

CJ*: No problem, Blair. It’s been nice having you along.

Dano*: Have to get that business taken care of quickly, we understand.

Enlo*: I’m going under a half-immersion, to monitor on the spot.

Blair: Good, you all make sure this gets accomplished.

Nancy*: This’ll be tough, but we’re all ready.

Ashe*: I’m sure all of us on both sides of the game will be doing all we can, including you Blair.

Penny*: We’re good! Although it is nerve-wracking knowing we’re going up against a final boss more final than any other.

Blair: And Enlo, for goodness sakes, be careful. Your equipment’s good, but I don’t want to see you get screwed over in another life.

CJ*: hah, good one Penny.

Ashe*: I think we’re beyond final boss territory now; Cyril’s more like that.

Enlo*: Aw, thanks for your concern Blair.

Dano*: Anybody gets nervous with their characters coming up on a battle like this, Penny.

Blair: Enlo… (glowers)

Penny*: We’re all going in together, so I’m hopping for the best! (hugs all)

Penny*: *hoping, bah

Enlo*: We got lucky with Nicolus not trying in the first battle, so I’m sure you all are going to need me watching close at hand with Indalecio.

Blair: I’m watching out for that too over here, and I will kick you out if I think something’s going wrong out of your control.

Enlo*: Fine by me.

Blair: Good, take care of yourselves.

(Blair has left the chatroom.)

Penny*: What was that about?

Enlo*: Programming level stuff, don’t worry about it. We’ve got a handle on it.

Jeb*: No really, what was that about?

CJ*: Is it something about getting them locked away for good?

Enlo*: Nicolus demonstrated some very strange skills one time while I was watching him and we suspect Indalecio can do the same thing. I don’t think he’ll be capable of it in the middle of battle, but Blair, her workers, and I have to be really careful now with handling him after the battle.

Dano*: What exactly are we talking about?

Enlo*: Some stuff that should only be possible by people who know the Eternal Sphere’s coding. He might be able to screw with our character’s programming beyond normal curses. So we may have to deal with undoing that afterwards.

CJ*: I think for now we should focus on just taking him down; we can handle anything else later on.

Enlo*: I’ll be trying to make sure that he doesn’t, so like I said, don’t worry about it and focus on supporting your characters as much as you can.

* * *

 

-Eenrgy Nede, Fienal Tower, Ernest

Now they were back at the place they had arrived… and the tower still looked amazing and improbable The globes lining the long bridge were sparkling in illumination despite the fact that it was late morning. While all the bodies had been cleared, the flowerbeds were filled with torched plants. Of the two trees in the center, one was barely alive and the other had been split in three and toppled. The whole place still had that unnerving feeling of death, something that only increased as they crossed the bridge.

“This place could take hours to search,” Mirage said, working with some device as she walked along with them. Pictures of places in the tower, presumably, flashed by in the space in front of her.

“I hear him from the top of the central spire,” Noel said.

“I can hear the Sorcery Globe up there, at least,” Leon said.

On checking, Mirage nodded and shut the security camera hologram off. “Looks like you two are right. In that case, let me take you to the nearest internal teleporter in the tower. We can’t arrive exactly there, but I’ll put us close.”

A small part of Ernest was disappointed they’d go straight for Indalecio; he’d love to explore this place at any other time, even if it was from an advanced civilization. But no, it was important this time to forgo exploration and get rid of the biggest danger around. Still, he couldn’t resist asking, “What’s this place for normally?”

“The beginning and the ending of life,” Mirage said. “It was the best hospital on Energy Nede, where all the major operations were taken care of. The one in Central City was a smaller facility near the largest population centers. For the most part, anyone who worked here also lived here. There's controls some of the larger systems here too, like the weather and sea conditions.”

“Wow, you have control over even that?” Rena asked.

Mirage shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal. “Energy Nede is less of a world and more of a contained environment in a fish bowl. We don’t have to deal with the higher complexity of natural planets and their ecosystems, so it’s easier to maintain and change weather conditions.”

Inside, Fienal Tower did look more like an advanced civilization construction, if in unusual dark colors. Ernest personally thought the deep red wasn’t as attractive for a hospital, but she did also say they dealt with birth and death here. Through a sliding door a short ways from the entrance, they came upon a bright blue teleporter that looked different from the glassed-in black ones used in L’Aqua and Central City. Mirage worked the controls to send them from the ground floor to the eighth floor. From there, they had to climb a large set of stairs to reach the place where their target was. Rena and Noel decided to start placing protective spells on everyone. There was no telling how quickly this battle would begin.

They came upon a rather familiar scene, a platform that was shaped rather like a flower open up to the sky overhead. On the floor, there was a huge red crest written over the metal floor, one that looked threatening even before Ernest tried to read the runes. Over their heads, the Sorcery Globe floated on its own power, teeming with the power of death. Indalecio was standing near the center of the room, not seeming alert to their presence. If anything, he seemed lost in thought.

It was strange, but even though Ernest was with a group of ten others, all powerful in their own right, he had a feeling of disturbing a god as he stepped onto the platform and started walking towards him with his friends.

Either not bothered by it or braver than that feeling, Claude came to the front of their group and said, “Indalecio, you’re the last of your group left. We’re here to put an end to your plans.”

“My plans are going according to my calculations,” Indalecio said. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve killed the rest; I alone am enough. But you shouldn’t have messed with Filia.”

“You shouldn’t have broken your daughter’s heart like that,” Noel said.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Indalecio said sharply, the first emotion he’d shown so far. “You know why your efforts don’t matter? Because I linked the activation of the crest to our lives. It’s nearly complete now, only waiting for my death to seal the fate of the universe. I would have been willing to simply die now that you’ve reached me, but you convinced Filia to betray me and die before her time. Now I will destroy all of you to your cores before the rest of the universe dies!” He then sent a shockwave through the floor at them, nearly knocking them over before sending a ring of violet bubbles spreading through the room.

Ernest was shaken by the first wave, but he moved ahead of Opera in an attempt to whip the bubbles that were coming their way. His attack popped a good deal of them but send a jarring amount of pain up his hand in backlash. Still, it allowed the other fighters to hurry on ahead, while Rena quickly healed him up. Noel was waving the other mages and Mirage over away from the staircase so he could set up his earth shield for them.

“Leave fixing that crest to me, you all just kill him,” Mirage said to Ernest quickly, then hurried over to join Noel with Rena.

“Got it,” Ernest said, running to join the others. Ahead of him, Claude was caught blocking a string of lightning bolts from Indalecio with his sword. Starry sparks flew from the conflict, but didn’t reach far enough to hit the source of the spell. Ernest made it to Claude’s side right as Chisato made a quick strike against Indalecio’s shoulder to disrupt his spell before she sprinted off out of reach until she needed to do that again. “Mirage has the crest covered, don’t worry about killing him,” Ernest told Claude.

“Good,” Claude said, then used his Ripper Blast special attack to further disrupt Indalecio before Dias and Ashton could reach him.

Before those earthen spikes hit him, Indalecio jumped back and flew to the edge of the battlefield. He had no obvious means of flight like Cyril had his winged machine, but remained in the air as he repeated the shockwave and bubble attack. Ernest went to do the same as he had before, but Indaleico made two more rings of bubbles, held close together so that somebody was bound to get hit. At this point, it seemed only Chisato had a chance at keeping up with Indalecio. But even with her skills, she wasn’t going to be enough to take him down.

Opera fired off her homing shots to reach him, then ran over to Ernest. “Ern, think you can knock him down too?”

“If he’s better at hiding machinery, then sure,” he said. “But if that’s magic, it’s chancy. Let’s go, ah,” he glanced at how the others were trying to catch up, then ran in a different direction hoping to catch Indalecio bolting again. “This way.”

This time, Claude managed to get in a couple of attacks by getting over there quickly enough, but Indalecio flew off again, thankfully in the direction Ernest had guessed. As soon as he saw the regal man start to move, Ernest charged up his lightning shot and struck as Indalecio was moving. It hit and did make him slow down briefly. But it did not knock Indalecio out of the air and Ernest got telekinetically hurled across the room into Noel’s shield for his efforts. Not even Leon’s water spell nor Rena’s star spell phased Indalecio much further either. But Ashton did manage to warp across the room to meet Indalecio with a Sword Dance attack, something that seemed to be hurting him. As Ernest starting running back to the middle of the room, he noticed that Indalecio was still floating even after Ashton’s attack finished, even though he’d been knocked back from it. Were they even hitting him? He hadn’t attacked directly, so it was hard for him to tell if this was an ethereal foe or not.

“This is a divine comedy,” Indalecio said, something that didn’t make immediate sense but he seemed to be casting a spell. “Let me show you.” He then released a rainbow blast of magic which moved far too fast for anyone to defend themselves from.

Ernest found himself knocked to the floor, momentarily caught breathless at the sudden pressure on his body. Then something got knocked out of him, a silver light that soon formed into a man. While he didn’t look like anyone he knew, with dark reddish-brown hair and casual clothes rather more like what one would wear at home rather than in a battle, there was something familiar about him that Ernest couldn’t put his finger on. The air flickered and some kind of silver line, faint and barely there, appeared between him and the familiar stranger. And that man wasn’t the only one who suddenly appeared. Even Noel’s shield had fallen as an adult Fellpool with shaggy blue hair and fur appeared near them.

Indalecio looked over his handwork; nearly everyone was knocked down, save for him, Rena, and Claude. “Then it wasn’t all of you… these are your guardian angels, supposed to protect those they watch but they are rather pitiful creatures too. I failed last time I tried with Ernest, but I have made them tangible now. Should one of you die, you both will die. And they’re not capable of fighting any battles.”

He started to cast again, but Claude managed to reach him in time to interrupt. Guardian angels… when had Indalecio tried to force out his angel? At Hoffman Ruins? Ernest wasn’t sure if he should believe all that, but it seemed his fate was now tied to the one with him. He’d have to find a way to keep both himself and this familiar stranger safe.

* * *

 

-4D, Sphere Company headquarters, Blair

“****,” Blair said as she realized what was going on. “We’ve got 4D citizens in the Eternal Sphere!”

“Someone other than that group you’re watching?” one of the other programmers asked.

“No, it’s all of them,” she said, trying to think of how to get them out. She could understand it if Indalecio had knocked Enlo into a tangible state, but then she wouldn’t have to worry as he had experience in that kind of situation. “Most of them are laymen, they’ll have no idea what to do. Set the alarms and get other players off!” Even if it was unlikely for others to get sucked in, better not risk it.

“We’ve got a low player count,” another programmer said. “But, it’s because a lot of them are watching this battle right now.”

Then there was no way they’d get around hiding what happened. “Right.”

“We’ve got a message from the medical department asking what happened to our laymen civilians,” someone called into the room.

“Check them out but leave them hooked in,” Blair called.

“Are you sure about that?”

“Very,” she said. “Disconnect them now and their minds are getting wiped.” And there was no coming back from that. Of course, dying against Indalecio here would have the same effect. She made a quick check of equipment and statuses, trying to find something to help them with. “Oh, and tell them to check on Enlo too. He’s going to hate that, but we need to make sure his body is safe to return to as well.”

Something popped up in Noel’s inventory that got Blair’s attention: Israfel’s Tear, the ring that Filia had given Noel. Filia had been the reason Indalecio had decided to attack without restraint (they could have easily salvaged the situation if he had decided on suicide first). Perhaps the ring could be used against him if she could link Filia into it somehow. She was sealed away, but not yet deleted from the database.

“The characters are getting themselves back together, but the citizens seem to be dazed,” a programming working with her on monitoring the battle said.

“They’re going to be,” Blair said. How much could they do to protect them? Maybe activating some player avatar skills; they’d been put in mostly for staff amusement, but those might just work out here. How well could she contact them?

So many questions, but she had to work fast, on instinct, to have any chance at saving them.

* * *

 

-Energy Nede, Fienal Tower, Ashe

They were… they were in the Eternal Sphere, right with their characters. And they were going to die, with nothing at all to protect them like there would be in 4D. Ashe felt a strike of terror, mixed in with a sense of awe that he was here looking up at Ashton, who seemed bewildered at his presence. “Guardian angels?” Ashton asked, then quickly turned his attention to Indalecio, who was working to get out of Claude’s range.

Ashe thought for a moment that he wasn’t about to be guarding anyone like this. But then something came into his mind. He could visualize the Tria quest status screens, reviewing known moves. For himself? ‘For this battle, you have been granted the avatar skill ‘Meta-Guard: will neutralize most attacks on user avatar and user character for one minute, but then needs to be recharged for one minute before it can be reset.’. Use wisely, Ashe. We’re working to get you all out safely. –From Blair’

That could help; hopefully one minute was long enough to take Indalecio down. Ashe got to his feet, but the weirdest thing happened: he found himself floating like Indalecio was. Rather ghostly, but it seemed easy enough to move where he wanted by thinking it. He thought of the game screens, hoping that might be a way to activate this skill.

A question from what seemed to be Tria came to him. ‘What are your reasons for activating an avatar skill? Tell him.’

Reasons… that was easy. “I’ve been with you through good and bad ever since you started training as a squire,” Ashe said. “Even when several people thought I should drop you, I wasn’t going to give up on you. And I still won’t; I’ll see you through this the best I can.” Then meta guard wrapped around then with a golden light, similar to what Berle had been using back at L’Aqua. “We’ve got a minute, so don’t be afraid! Strike as hard as you can.”

“Guess you are an angel,” Ashton said, activating Leaf Slash to catch up to Indalecio again. Their enemy used an Earthquake spell to force Claude away from him and attack all in the room. But it didn’t trouble Ashton or Ashe at all while the former made a few normal attacks to see how things were. Although he wasn’t immersed in Ashton’s mind, Ashe could still tell some of what he was thinking. Indalecio’s body didn’t seem normal, since no matter how many times he was struck, it didn’t seem to hurt him. And it was rather like hitting a hay bale rather than a human body.

At that thought, Gyoro and Ururun teamed up to blast Indaleico in the face with their breath attacks. Yet he was still focused on casting his spells. Rena managed to get a powerful group heal over everyone right before Indalecio summoned a swarm of meteorites to strike them. Several very nearly hit Ashton and Ashe, but their meta guard held. Then Indalecio healed the burn and ice marks on him just before Ashton went into another Sword Dance from striking range rather than leading in from a few feet away. That should have increased its power greatly, albeit at leaving Ashton at a bigger risk of counters if his foe could do so in time.

There was a grunt from Indaleicio as he was thrown back at the end, so he must have felt it somehow. He summoned some kind of evil red chain to lash out at Ashton; whatever effect it was supposed to have didn’t happen as meta-guard blocked that. However, the guard did not block Indalecio from lifting Ashton with magic and hurling him into a pillar at the edge of the battlefield. Not wanting to get caught too close to Indalecio when meta guard ran out, Ashe went off after Ashton. “You okay?”

“Better than I should be, thanks to you,” Ashton said, smiling briefly as he got back up. “Let’s try something from here,” then readied himself to cast Tri-Ace.

Ashe checked on the timer on meta-guard. While it was due to run out soon, it might last long enough to keep Ashton from being disrupted during this. After that, he’d have to suggest hanging back until he could activate it again.

* * *

 

-Chisato

There were dozens, no, hundreds of questions buzzing around in Chisato’s mind. There really were guardian angels? How did Indalecio know about them? Or know how to make them tangible? What were their lives like and what could they do? But at the moment, the most important thing seemed to be that right now, her life was tied to an angel’s and now death might fall even if she could protect herself.

It didn’t help that the angel that appeared beside her looked sick and disoriented; she hadn’t gotten up off the ground and the Earthquake spell had shaken her badly. She looked like a gentle lady, with her orange curls in neat rows and her simple elegant yellow dress working with her form. Not only that, but seeing her was sort of like meeting up with a newly-found friend. “Hey, you feeling bad?” Chisato asked. “Anything I can help with?”

“S-sorry,” she said, clutching her chest. “I’m not as young as the others. I’ll try not to hold you back.” She floated up slowly.

“Well don’t push yourself if you can’t handle it,” Chisato said. They got healed, just in time for her to have to dodge around falling meteors. Luckily none hit her angel; she wasn’t sure if she could take one of them.

“I’ve got something I could do,” the angel said. “Er, once I’m used to being here. Can you hold up for a few?”

“Sure thing,” Chisato said. She saw the shockwave and bubble ring attack coming again, so she decided to try throwing out her gas skull in an attempt to burst the bubbles before they reached them (the shockwave shouldn’t hit the angel since it was in the floor and she was floating now).

It wasn’t like she could pull off big powerful moves like the rest, but stalling until her angel could do something was right up her alley.

* * *

 

-Precis and Penny

“Oh man, I thought I was prepared, but I wasn’t prepared for this,” Penny said, darted around while she floated, trying to get used to moving like this.

“You can say that again,” Precis said, not sure she wanted to get back to running after Indalecio again. All this running about was going to tire her out before she could get in any decent attacks. Maybe she should have stuck with what she knew, machines, rather than trying to be a fighter like the others.

On getting a message from Blair, Penny brightened. “Hey, I can do something! It could get you and Super Bobot up to him for a few free attacks if you use the Mole module. But I dunno if you’d want to stick near him for long. At least long enough for Ashton to use his Tri-Ace.”

“All right, since he can be interrupted out of that, I think,” Precis said, nodding before she whistled for Bobot to come out and transform. She jumped into the pilot seat and called out, “Okay, mole mode!”

Super Bobot rapidly turned his arms into drills and dug down into the floor. It was a bit weird, but with his shield around her, it really wasn’t a problem (and the holes never lasted long for some magical reason). In this way, she managed to miss getting hit by the meteor spell and the bubbles, although the shockwave did cause Bobot to shake.

Overhead, Penny floated around until she knew Precis was about to come back up. On being prompted, she said, “We both love machines, so you’re like my best friend I’ve never been able to speak to. So I’m gonna help you!” Then she used Blinding Flares to send bright fireworks to explode near Indalecio. Their damage was said to be negligible, but it should briefly render him unable to see or even daze him.

It was hard to tell if it worked because Precis immediately slammed Super Bobot’s drill arms into Indalecio. The attack shredded a lower portion of his cloak, revealing not legs but a dark sparkling cloud. While he’d been built based off the Nedians, maybe he wasn’t even Nedian himself? She was able to drill punch him a few more times, but then Indalecio summoned his chain whip again and cut right through Super Bobot, forcing him to revert back to normal Bobot and deactivate. “Bobot!” Precis called, trying to scramble over to him. But Indalecio was about to strike her now.

Fortunately, Ashton’s Tri-Ace activated and stopped Indalecio’s attack dead. Then one of the mages, probably Leon, summoned up a whole mess of gremlins and sent them to attack Indalecio. Angered, he set all the gremlins on fire and made an explosion fill the room with fire. Precis had managed to grab Bobot and run off towards Ashton and his angel in the meanwhile. And Rena healed them all again.

Just how long could they hold out? At least as long as Rena could, probably.

* * *

 

-Opera

She felt like she’d be better with her help if her alpha shots were actually doing anything. It was hard to tell, but Indalecio seemed to be able to ward off anywhere from one to three quarters of them and what hit him cause little reaction. On the other hand, if it hadn’t been for Rena, Opera was pretty sure they’d all be dead several times over. Even these angels, for the two she saw (hers and Ernest’s) didn’t seem prepared for battle in the least. No armor, no weapons; they could have been ordinary civilians on Tetragenes for all they seemed.

Not that long ago, Ashton had been thrown past them. Opera hadn’t turned to see if he was injured and out of the fight, but she opted to stand her ground between him and Indalecio, just in case. She fired while Ernest paused by her, seeming to gauge whether he should run in closer for a better strike or hold the ground here too. But then Precis and her angel popped up right next to Indalecio, causing an interesting reaction from the two angels near her as they called out something to them. “What was that?” Opera said, readying her rifle for another round of shots.

“Our daughter,” the male angel said; it was clear from his angered tone that he meant Precis’ angel. Bad since Indalecio had just attacked Bobot to get rid of the robot’s threat and was about to do away with Precis.

“Looks like we will have to combine our efforts then,” the female angel said as Ashton’s spell gave Precis the time she needed to get her robot buddy and start running away towards them. “You two are going to need to attack together.”

“All right, we’ll see about timing it right,” Ernest said as the two angels began to glow silver again. “Right?” he asked her.

“Have to try,” Opera said, then flashed a smile right before they got hit by an explosion. “Gah… I’m sure we will…”

Thankfully Rena healed them up, right as Indalecio turned their way, with Precis and her angel hurrying past them. While he was probably thinking of getting after Ashton and Precis, Opera and Ernest were in his way. Then the strangest thing happened. Time seemed to slow around them as Indalecio started flying their way.

The male angel then said, “Ernest, I’ve stuck by you since your childhood. I’m glad I did to see you reach this point; I’ll make sure you live through this.”

Then the female angel added, “Opera, I made a promise to a dear friend of mine when she could no longer help you, to look after you and make sure you found your dreams. I’ll keep that promise to her and you.”

Briefly, Opera found herself wondering again what kind of society these angels came from. Then she found herself in perfect sync with Ernest, down to the beating of their hearts and their every breath. It was exhilarating, but done in order to keep Indalecio from reaching the four behind them (Ernest had seen Ashton collapse after casting Tri-Ace, so he couldn’t be well). With not even a thought of planning, she switched her rifle to fire lightning shots while Ernest switched his whip to the rose thorns. They attacked at the same second, Opera sending a powerful bolt of lightning through Indalecio to halt his advance, something she hadn’t really done before. And Ernest did something new as well, causing his rose whip to pass through space behind the briefly stunned Indalecio and turning it as powerful as chains to bind him in place.

It was some kind of heraldic energy, but binding him like that was a strain on Ernest. Yet the connection with their angels allowed Opera to move closer and take his arm, allowing him to borrow what power she had to keep him bound. That should allow another one of their group to get in and attack freely. Maybe even finish Indalecio off.

* * *

 

-Dias

It wasn’t clear what they needed to be doing right now. Indalecio said that he’d linked the crest activation to his life, so it would complete when he died. Wasn’t Mirage supposed to take care of that? Hopefully she still could. Now they had angels in the battle. They weren’t what people thought they were but a couple of them were making rather improbable things happen. But if one died, so did the other.

“This isn’t a time to be thinking of that, or thinking at all,” his angel said, in a strict voice that was somewhat like his father.

He nodded and took off running after Indalecio, ignoring the spells flying about, ignoring the fact that any time he got within range, the red-haired bastard would fly off again at unreal speed. He saw what happened, with Precis attacking but then getting in a tight spot. Once she was gone, Indalecio started to go after her, only to get stopped dead in his tracks by Opera and Ernest. Not dead yet, though.

“I’ve been watching and helping you for nearly your whole life,” his angel said. “I couldn’t stop every bad thing, but I’ll do my best to make sure he dies rather than us. And, I’m proud of you for how you turned out.”

That was really reassuring, so Dias ignored it when the angel started doing something to him while he prepared to attack Indalecio while bound by rose vines. When he was just a couple strides from reaching him, the angel somehow produced three shadows of him that attacked at the same moment as Dias did, in the exact same rapid expert strike. That was astounding and should tear a normal person to pieces.

But as the shadows vanished, it was clear that the only thing in pieces was Indalecio’s coat and some of his hair. There was a deep cut across his face, but it wasn’t bleeding. Instead, it was black. So was the rest of his body, if one could call it that. It was simply a withered root surrounded by a sparkling black cloud that seemed like it would suck him in and never release him if he looked at it too long. No wonder they were having a tough time taking him down, as there was hardly anything of him there but magic.

Indalecio hurled him across the room and from the movement of his floating gloves, it seemed he meant to send a spell after him. And then he stopped, muttering something in lost concentration. Hopefully that gave someone else an opening.

* * *

 

-Leon and Noel

There were four of them in this small portion of the battlefield, but only one angel appeared when Indalecio summoned them out. The angel lashed his tail angrily and soon had himself surrounded with rapidly moving green runes. While it was hard to tell what he was up to, Noel got his shield back up and let Leon and Rena get back to their work. After trying another attack spell, Leon asked, “Can you keep that up, dad?”

“I’ll keep it as long as we need it,” Noel said, even though he was clearly sweating from the effort.

Leon hoped it wouldn’t take much longer. But spells just weren’t working that well against Indalecio. He did manage to get a small effect with Gremlin Lair, but the mad king (his mana just sounded like that, even in the emptiness) simply burned them off and retaliated. Rena managed to keep up with him, but she was tiring of casting these powerful spells too.

“We’re not having much of an effect,” Leon said. “I’d cast Extinction, but it’s Void and so is he.”

“Can you shift the element over to Vacuum instead of Void?” Mirage asked. “They’re very similar, yet just different enough that it might have an effect on him.”

Leon twisted his ears back. “Sounds good, but shifting elements in such short time, I don’t like that.”

The Fellpool angel then broke out of his runes. “That should work,” he said, raising a hand and causing the rune pattern for Extinction to appear in the air near Leon. He swapped out the elements and had them perfectly balanced in less than a second. “Can you cast with this?”

But even in that question, he could feel a confidence from the angel that he would be capable of it. “Of course, I’ll get right on it.” And by casting it with Vacuum, he didn’t have to think of the dead to get the mana for it.

“I’ll take over the shield,” the angel said to Noel. “I think you know… I was heartbroken to lose you the first time you ran into him, but I’ve been watching over Leon ever since. I want to see both of you happy and at your best, so will you cooperate with me on something?”

“Okay,” Noel said, letting go of the shield. The angel took over immediately.

“Take Filia’s ring and contact her spirit through it. Get her to speak to Indalecio. It’ll be tough, but I’ll make sure you don’t get lost doing so.”

He nodded, pulling the ring out of his pocket. What should he say? Noel listened to the ring and tried to recall the sad girl’s voice. Then he heard her, mumbling as if sleep talking. “Sorry to disturb your rest, but we need your help to stop your father.”

“Is he refusing to give up still?” Filia asked, from wherever she was beyond death.

“We can help you reach him, maybe,” Noel said. There was a torrent of noise in the connection, but he barely heard it; it was like clouds building in the distance, a danger if they reached him.

“Father?” she called.

And it reached Indalecio, causing him to stop an attack on Dias. “They must suffer for what they did to you,” he muttered.

“Don’t punish them for what I did,” Filia said, her voice turning to more like a little girl. “Daddy, are you going to play with me tomorrow?”

“There won’t be a tomorrow,” Indalecio said, setting off another Earthquake spell. It wasn’t as powerful as his last one. “A world that would let you die does not deserve to live. A world that refuses to change does not deserve to live. A people that can only spend their days in idle wastes searching for entertainment because they face no conflict in life does not deserve to live!”

Leon completed his altered Extinction spell then, sending silver fireballs all racing for Indalecio. That actually had a noticeable effect, making him scream and fall with his withered body on the floor, still caught up in a few of Ernest’s vines. Claude happened to be nearest to him, so he cut Indalecio’s body in half. After he continued screaming, Claude then stabbed him in the mouth, finally killing him for good.

“A world with even the smallest wonder deserves to live,” Filia said sleepily. “I hope… your world lives on…” then the connection to her snapped away.

The tower began shaking immediately. “Hmm, that’s my cue,” Mirage said, starting up her own spell. The angel dismissed the shield spell, letting them see how the Crest of Annihilation began to twist in its lettering. While it flickered red for some time, it shifted over to purple, then to blue. Rena cast her healing spell again, so the others were able to hurry over to where they were.

“That could have gone badly,” Claude said, although he wasn’t yet relieved. “Good work everyone, but what now?”

“Rena, take control of the altered crest from me,” Mirage said, pointing to her and causing her pendant to shine. “Tell the Sorcery Globe that you want it to cast the changed spell instead of what it was casting. With him out of the picture, it should react.”

“Okay,” Rena said, clasping her quadratic key in her hands. “Please, let our world be saved, not destroyed along with all the other worlds out there across the sky.”

The Sorcery Globe rumbled overhead, then sent down rays of energy at the rewritten crest. A few of them came unnervingly close to their group, but Leon heard no intention on hitting them. The Sorcery Globe was cooperating with her as if Rena was its master. However, the shaking in the tower only intensified. “What is this?” Precis asked.

“It’s working like designed,” the angel for him and Noel said.

Mirage nodded. “Right. Even with the alterations, there is still a lot of destructive force in this crest. We’ve directed all that at Energy Nede, so it won’t exist soon. Don’t worry; it’s also designed to get all of us out before the destruction activates.”

“What, you’re sacrificing Energy Nede instead?” Claude asked, shocked. “That doesn’t sound like a good trade-off.”

“Can’t you get the people off at least?” Opera asked.

“I gave those who wanted it an escape route,” Mirage said. “But it’s a bit like he said. Energy Nede hasn’t changed in hundreds of millions of years and as a result, very few here had the will to truly live like Chisato does. Many agreed to it when we let them know.”

“That seems terribly sad,” Rena said, right before they were all absorbed into green bubbles and flown far into the sky. It was shocking to be falling upward, yet Leon felt safe even as he watched the Fienal Tower and the plains and seas around it vanish into the distance.

Then in a series of powerful explosions, Energy Nede vanished into dust. It was sad, he thought, that these people felt their lives weren’t worth enough to continue living and sacrificed themselves so that Expel could live. But, Expel would live. The dust had started to spread out, but rapidly got drawn back together in a bundle of material with intensive gravity around it. He barely understood how gravity worked, but hearing the sounds of space around him, he found that he knew what was going on. At the center of the gravity, the Sorcery Globe reached into the past year and warped space like a crumpled up blanket in order to pull Expel from its own destruction. A lot of the pieces had been toppled in the exchange, but the Sorcery Globe continued on, setting pieces back in place, even returning pieces thought long lost.

At last, the Sorcery Globe shattered, with the thought that its only task was completed. And Expel was left there sitting in space, looking breathtakingly beautiful from here far beyond its atmosphere. The world didn’t seem as large from here.

It did grow large as their protective bubbles flew them all down onto the planet’s surface. They were all brought to the same location, strangely enough on the Cross continent. In the distance, he could see Cross Castle, but it seemed they were coming to a road to the south of the castle, between two towns and a wide forest. There, a strange gigantic vessel, like a bizarrely designed ship, was sitting on the road between the towns. All the bubbles went into the ship. A starship like he’d been born on?

They appeared in a large room with ships more like Ernest’s ship, but with plenty of room for them and a few dozen Nedians to appear. Some of the Nedian children began to gape and point out the ships, but in their group, Claude said, “The Calnus? You even brought the Calnus back?”

Mirage nodded. “Of course; they were innocent in the conflict as well. But what are you going to do about your angels now?”

One of them called the name of another, who was kneeling on the floor. They were all back to a ghostly state, although still visible. “Hang in there,” the angel said to the one still suffering.

“I’m afraid she took the transition harder than the rest of us,” Leon’s angel said. “We’re still working on getting out of here, but for now, we’ll have to hang around you all.”

“I don’t think that’s a problem,” Ashton said. “It’s weird, but I feel like I’ve known you for a long time.”

“We have, in a way,” the angel with him (who looked very much like Ashton) said.

“What’s going on in here?” someone called into the room from an entrance nearby.

“Dad!” Claude ran over to him. “I thought I wouldn’t see you again.”

Claude’s father nearly said one thing, but then stopped. “Yes… we’re not sure exactly what’s going on since all of our fuel’s gone and the records show that we got completely annihilated.”

“You did,” Mirage said, smirking a little. “We fixed it. But sorry about the fuel issue, small details like that are bound to go wrong with what we were doing.”

“Will you explain what we’re doing here and why all these people are with us?” the ship captain said.

“Of course, but it’s a long tale,” Mirage said.


	46. The Angels of 4D

-4D message board

Topic: Post your prayers for the lost angels!

Original Post (Lass): I don’t know if this will work, but let’s send prayers through the virtual space for the safe return of the angels who got pulled into the Eternal Sphere by Indalecio! Whatever gods listen through the internet, please bring back our friends and neighbors safely back home.

Reply #12 (Peter): Great idea! Please, bring back Ashe and his friends before it’s too late. They need to come home after they selflessly helped to save the Eternal Sphere.

Reply #168 (Trent): They are lucky in a way… but still, it’s a bit of a nightmare to get sucked into the game like that. I pray for the gods to bring them back safely. Even those ones who annoy me.

Reply #259 (Helena): By the gods, I’m so worried. Nancy and Jeb even said they shouldn’t be there, but their characters got pulled into the adventure too and now they’re stuck in the Eternal Sphere with Penny. Please bring them back home safely, them and all of their friends.

Reply #472 (Louisa): Oh, I’m so worried about CJ; she’s been one of the greatest people in my life and a powerful inspiration, and I only know her through message boards and chat rooms. Her friends must be something special too. I hope and pray for their safe return, and that they get well quickly.

Reply #601 (Yule): By whichever god will listen to us, please bring these angels back home. (Also, I was thinking of not posting, but then good grief, it’s gotten huge faster than any other topic I’ve seen and I felt bad. Really, please come home, all of you).

Reply #715 (Cece): Oh, this is terrible! Please gods, please bring back Dano and all the rest back home safely. I won’t even bug him about being my big brother anymore, promise.

Reply #943 (MOD Blair): You all really are wonderful for doing this. I put links to it on other boards and allowed free access.

And by the names of the heavens, I pray for the guidance, strength, and energy to help bring these good folk back home safe and sound.

Reply #1232 (Sonya): God, please bring my student Penny and all her friends safely. They don’t deserve to get lost forever from their home here on Delrina.

Reply #1503 (NAME REDACTED): Good grief, Enlo, what a mess you got yourself in. But, you were right. Sorry about doubting you and the authenticity of the ES NPC AI. Sure, even I’m praying from the reformation building for you and your friends to come back safe. Our world wouldn’t be the same without you.

Reply #2003 (Lass): Glad to see so many people care! I hope this does help. Also, I was thinking about what Indalecio was saying, that people who don’t change and just seek entertainment don’t deserve to live. He might’ve meant the people of Energy Nede, but, what if he meant us?

It’s a scary thing to think about.

* * *

 

-Expel, on board the starship Calnus, Ernest

The Pangalactic Federation crew didn’t want them and the Nedian refugees to leave the hanger until their doctors cleared them for injuries and possible infections. Because of that, Admiral Kenni got chairs and benches brought over so they could sit in a group and discuss what had happened. It was quite a tale and there were points when Ernest wondered if they’d be believed. Then again, there was that irrefutable evidence that the Calnus had been completely destroyed and then brought back due to tampering with the space-time field.

“Then most of the people here are citizens of Energy Nede that are now displaced with the loss of their world?” the admiral asked.

Mirage nodded. “Right. And our original homeworld was destroyed eons ago, so we need to find a new place to live. However, we don’t have the skills to make a living, even a primitive one, on a natural planet any more. Energy Nede supported us entirely.”

“I’m sure the Federation can work out something quickly for you refugees,” the admiral said. “We’ve sent a call out to get a fuel ship sent out to help us. From there, we can take you back to Earth and get things arranged.” He then looked over at the native Expellians. “I’m not sure what we should do about the people of this planet. We aren’t authorized to interact with you, but as we’re stuck here and you came on board, it’s too late to be worrying about that.”

“I think it’s too late to be worrying about keeping Expel insulated until they can get off world on their own,” Ernest said. “Their world has been tampered with by several advanced groups; what the two of us and Claude have done is not enough to leave a big impact outside this circle, but if your crew remembers the ship’s destruction, then the people of this world will remember their world’s destruction and not be able to explain it.”

“How far do you think it can be put into mythic form?” the lieutenant with them asked.

Opera answered for him. “Not likely. It’s not just what the Ten Wise Men did, but that they’ve had indirect contact even before that. A federation explorer like Calnus was lost in this area thirteen years ago, right? Much of its wreckage ended up here and the natives have managed to reverse-engineer a good deal of it to rapidly advance their technology. They had a weapon that they developed which is more suitable for an atomic energy industry level, a splinter particle beam cannon that runs off symbological energy of a vacuum element. Those inventions have already started shifting the world’s political balance and could get out of hand if they’re left to their own devices.”

“Those are strong arguments,” Admiral Kenni said. “Then there’s the fact that we’re here, in full sight of at least three communities if they can see us from the castle in the distance. Could you two convince the committees?”

“We’ll do our best to argue for them,” Ernest said. “If you want to bring along a native representative, I’d like to recommend Precis.”

“What, me telling people we’re okay?” the teenager asked, her eyes wide. Possibly more at the prospect of seeing other worlds and space travel.

“You’re the one who’s done a good deal of the work with advanced technology,” he said.

“We’ll consider that,” the admiral said.

“Excuse me,” one of the Federation doctors said. “Most everyone comes up clean and we’ve patched up the injuries. Except for the angels, as you call them. We can’t even detect them properly.”

The Felpool angel then said, “Don’t worry, we’re intangible right now, no threat to you.”

“What about Chisato’s angel?” Rena asked.

“She’s finally adjusting, so we think she’ll be okay,” he said. “Hopefully we won’t be around for long, it’s still a bit dangerous for us to be like this. And no, we can’t really talk to you about things like you’re reluctant to talk to the Expellians fully. They’re okay, though.”

After some more discussion, it was decided that the Nedian refugees, including Chisato and Mirage, would be staying on the Calnus to find a place for them all to settle in for a new life. Over half of them were children, so it seemed more likely they’d be placed in an established community rather than being given their own. With some thought, Claude agreed to go back to Earth on the Calnus too, to help Opera, Ernest, and Precis convince the Federation committees to make an exception for Expel and explain what happened with Expel and Energy Nede. They had offered to bring Noel back to Roark, but he decided quickly, probably even before now, to stick with Leon on Expel. The rest of them would also be staying back on Expel; the admiral even offered to use the ship’s teleporter to help them get home quickly. That is, once the group had some time to talk and rest after their tough battle.

Almost immediately, Claude told Rena, “Sorry I’ll be leaving, but I’ll be back, I promise.”

“All right, I’ll be waiting,” she said with a confident smile.

“Yeah, we’ll even smuggle him back if we need to when we return her,” Ernest said, making some of the others laugh. Although he was fairly confident they could get this exemption made, he also meant what he said.

“Hey, how about we all agree to meet back up somewhere a year from now?” Precis suggested. “I mean, I dunno how long we’ll be gone, and you all have to go check up on your families and such. A year should be long enough, huh?”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Opera said. Ernest nodded. It seemed like he hadn’t been around these people long, but he didn’t want to think of parting with them for good once they headed off for Earth.

“Yes, we should do that,” Dias said.

“Sounds like a plan, but where should we meet up?” Claude asked.

“What about Arlia?” Ashton asked. “It’s a small town, but that’s where this whole thing got started for us, when you two met.”

“That’ll be quite an arrangement to make since Arlia doesn’t even have an inn,” Rena said. “But we’ll figure something out.”

Leon then went over to Precis. “Hey, do you want us to tell your family where you’re going, since you’re leaving Expel? Noel and I are the only ones going back to Lacour right now.”

She nodded. “Oh yeah, thanks a bunch! I’ll write a letter before you two take off, um, no two, one for my dad and one for the Jeanes. They’ll want to know too. Although the angels won’t be able to join us.”

“No, we’ll be there, you just won’t be able to see us again,” Precis’ angel said. She looked young too, and very much like her.

“Right,” Chisato’s angel said, smiling even though she still seemed weary. “We’ll be watching over you for a long time.”

“Seems you've already been watching over us for a long time,” Dias said.

“Some longer than others,” Dias’ angel said. “It’s just what we do.”

“So why don’t Rena or Claude have an angel?” Leon asked.

“They’re special people who’ve been untouchable by guardian angels,” the Felpool angel said. “But you’re all remarkable for what you’ve accomplished.” His ears flicked, then he nodded. “Okay, looks like we have our way back home again. We’ll be going for now, but we’ll be back at your sides before long, unseen as all the other angels are.”

It was a sudden departure, but Ernest felt like it wasn’t really a departure at all. Just a temporary parting, like they all were about to do. And if his angel had been following him for as long as he said (he was sure he believed that), then he was sure his feelings were understood. They said goodbye to the guardian angels, as they eventually would to each other.

But the events that brought them all together forged bonds that might never break.

* * *

 

-4D, medical center

One person undergoing a severe accident in immersion gaming was a rare event with the medical group, but one they prepared for constantly. Seven people getting hit by the same accident and nearly getting trapped in the game entirely, that hadn’t happened for at least a century, at least no more than three at once. To react promptly, the medical group had to call in those who would otherwise have a day off to take care of them. The Sphere Company had insisted they not be detached, which caused some debate among the doctors. But then all seven managed to break out of immersion with company help, and thus had to be immediately transported to the main medical center for treatment.

For the first few hours, it was a tense watch of making sure they had returned properly and that any mental feedback issues were cleared up. Five of them cleared up after three hours, mostly weakened and in varying degrees of pain depending on how much they went through in their battle with Indalecio. Enlo had to be promptly transported to the reformation building, as the judicial group wanted to interview him on what had gone on and what he may have been responsible for. Nancy and Penny were deemed ready to leave after another hour as long as a nurse went home with them, but Jeb had experienced this particular accident before and was hit harder in going through it again. They stayed for him. Ashe and Dano were also cleared not long after, but they decided to stay with the other two, to wait on Jeb, CJ, maybe even Enlo.

As for CJ, she was over seven hundred years old. Even with their standard in health care, that age left her frailer and less able to handle such problems. They nearly had Jeb stabilized and awake, but doctors were still hard at work on her.

“You are working to keep her alive, right?” Nancy asked at one point when a nurse came in to inform them of the situation. “She was bullied by a doctor a while ago, nearly into restarting when she didn’t feel ready for it.”

“We can’t do that without consent from her or next of kin, or any of you could count I suppose,” the nurse said. “I’m sorry, it was a rogue faction of the doctors who felt like things were stagnating and they had to put pressure to get more older folks into the restarting program. They’re all on forced absence right now”

“Good, then keep fighting for her,” Nancy said.

Once she left, Dano said, “On forced absence? I wonder if they’re working short-handed now.”

“Possibly,” Nancy said, then shook her head. “If I’d thought of that, I shouldn’t have snapped at her. I was just worried about how they were taking care of CJ.”

“I was about to ask about that too,” Ashe said.

They still had to wait, so Nancy and Penny started talking, the two men eventually joining in. It was a little strange, even after they’d all met in Enlo’s home, to be talking just casually with other 4D residents face to face. Especially for Dano, as he was so far removed from social obligations like school where interactions with others happened daily. Still, it was enough to make the three adults wonder why they’d let this part of life go for so long. Something that should be normal just wasn’t.

After two hours, Jeb was finally brought in the room. He was using a walker to get around, not letting the nurse support him. “Trying to come back a second time messed up something with my nerves in one leg,” Jeb said.

“We can get his nerves redone, but it’s going to be a major operation that’ll take more time than before to recover,” the nurse said. “And really, he should be resting, but I felt he’d be better after talking with all of you for a little while.”

“It’ll take longer, but I’m sure you’ll get back on your feet,” Ashe said.

“Sure thing,” Jeb said. Then he grinned. “Or I can get used to walking around with a cane, which’ll be handy for smacking boys who try to mess with my little girl.”

“Oh daaad!” Penny complained, much to the amusement of the others. But she even laughed after a few seconds.

“Did you all hear about the prayer thread?” the nurse asked. “Somebody started a thread on your message board collecting prayers for your safe return and well-being, then it got reposted to other boards and it has thousands of replies last I checked.”

“I knew we were getting notoriety, but I didn’t think that would happen.” Dano said.

“They’re calling you angels and everything,” he said, handing a controller to Nancy as she was the oldest there. “You can check on it if you want from the screen here, even post if you’d like.”

“Thanks, we’ll look into that,” Nancy said.

And it was true. There were posts from their friends and family members early on, as well as others who had frequented the Sorcery Globe Investigation Board. Even Blair, and she was the one who made it public to the rest of the internet, where it grew past ten thousand posts. Even now, when word was starting to get out that they had been pulled out, there were new prayers still being posted hoping for their well-being.

Blair herself came an hour later, along with Enlo “Good to see you all back,” Blair said while Enlo dropped into the nearest open seat that was with the group; he seemed tired, moreso than the rest of them. “How’s CJ doing?”

“We haven’t heard about her in a little while, but they said she was coming around,” Ashe said. “You going to be all right, Enlo? You don’t look so good.”

“Bah, give me a few days straight of sleep and I’ll be back in shape, or something resembling that,” Enlo said. “I know it didn’t look like much, but I was doing a lot on the inside. Then they come drag me out to the reformation building and ask a couple hundred questions.”

“It wasn’t that many,” Blair said.

“Seemed like it,” he said. “At least you’ve got my back, and they can’t pin me for crimes in past lifetimes.”

“You have been doing more good than ill, it seems,” Dano said.

Enlo shrugged. “I’m working on it.”

“What’re you going to do about the Ten Wise Men, Blair?” Penny asked.

She sat down with them. “I shouldn’t say, so just as long as you all keep quiet… the company’s already arguing over it. They’re clearly too dangerous to leave, so now that they’re segregated and deceased, I’d like to delete them fully. But, a few others want to keep them around as actual prestige bosses, just put on a separate server with their wills neutered. I wouldn’t mind copying the original Lucifel designs, but the minds and hacking ability that these ones have demonstrated need to be done away with or we’ll have more people ending up like you. It’s bad enough that it’s been shown that we can be fully transferred over.”

“Yeah, we don’t need a lot of our people ending up in the Eternal Sphere, whether they go willingly or not,” Enlo said. Then a mischievous spark showed through his weariness. “I’ve got plans, though. Nothing illegal.”

“You sure about that?” Blair asked.

“Technically, yes,” he said.

“Sure you should be saying that out loud?” Jeb asked, although he was grinning.

“I’m sure if you hear of ‘em, you’d agree,” Enlo said. “Maybe I’ll even let you guys know… if only so you can avoid trouble, not because you might possibly want to cause trouble.”

“Depends on what your trouble is,” Dano said.

“I just want to see to it that Delrina doesn’t stagnate to the point of Energy Nede, where most of the civilians don’t care if they live or die.”

Nancy then hushed them and it was soon clear why: CJ was being brought into the room. She was in a wheelchair, but she smiled and waved when they called to her. “Aw, you did all wait for me; thank you, you’re the kind of friends anyone would be blessed to have.”

“I think we’re all more blessed to know you,” Dano said, to which the rest all agreed.

* * *

 

-4D, message board

Topic: Thank you all for your prayers

Original Post (CJ): You might think the title says it all, but I do have a lot to say on behalf of our group. But first, yes, thank you all for your heartfelt prayers and wishes. It warms my heart to know that so many of you cared enough to reach out to others when in trouble, even if that was all that one could do. We hope that no one else will have to be involved in this kind of immersion trouble again.

I know that a great many of you were watching, and even if you weren’t, you’ve probably heard of the things Indalecio said during that final bout. I know that clip has been passed around quite a lot already, but I think a great many of you missed what was said in response to that. While you do have to follow particular characters or you’ll miss hearing it entirely (Noel or Leon are the ones you’ll want to follow), Filia said that a world with even the smallest piece of wonder still deserves to live. I think it’s a good thing to remember, that wonderful things aren’t always the big special ones. Sometimes they’re the simple every day things that you may need to reteach yourself to notice: the way even a tall plant grows from a small seed, or how you can make beautiful things starting with a simple thread, or many more. Even we shouldn’t take life for granted.

He also condemned worlds that did not change, but I don’t believe we’ve gone that far. It is still possible for us to change things, maybe even find new experiences. While we’ve had a peaceful and good world for centuries, I think there’s still things we could improve on, or things we could do differently without troubling the peace. For instance, I’m sure that we could handle shutting down some of the automated processes of our lives to do some extra work ourselves. I know there’s many of you who chose working people in the Eternal Sphere because it can be fulfilling, so there’s no reason such fulfillment couldn’t be found on Delrina as well.

Also, I think we could stand to make our lives less solitary in nature. I’ve spoken with so many of you who stick to solitary hobbies in your homes and don’t go out to talk to others face-to-face often. I even fell into doing so when I found myself a widow here. But lately, as I’ve gotten together with those in our investigation group, I’ve rediscovered the joy of being with your friends. Nothing complicated, it could even be light conversation over tea or working together on a hobby project. Such encounters build stronger bonds than those made through the big parties where there is so much going on that it doesn’t matter who you’re with. Besides, many speak fondly of their childhood and education days when it was required to live with others, interacting with them daily. It’s all too easy to forget that one of the best parts of those days is the close and steady social interaction.

I really do believe that we can still change, and find meaning in life in our own world. One of the things that we might need to change, though, is how we view the world within the Eternal Sphere. It’s no longer just a game; maybe it was never just a game. It’s a universe on its own merits, with many worlds and many ways of life. We can even learn things through watching them; much of what I’ve written already I would not have noticed if I hadn’t noticed it through my characters in that universe. To them, we are all angels; we should act more like such, watching and supporting our characters, but not imposing our plans or forcing our stories on them. If you’re shaking your head, you really should try seeing the stories that they create on their own.

In fact, the story of these events around the Sorcery Globe and Expel are more the story they created than the story we created.


	47. Ending A: Expel's Ambassadors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the many great pieces that comes together to make Star Ocean what it is are the endings. There’s over 80 of them in SO2, one for each character solo (including some specials like Celine/Chris and Ashton), one for each possible pairing (sometimes even two!), and one special ending if you get all friendship levels high enough. It makes it fun to try out different parties and find different ways through private actions. Of course, there’s a lot of endings that resemble each other. Noel and Dias both get hit hard with that (although getting Noel/Dias is amusing for the slashfic potential), as does Ernest. Still, it’s fun to see what the characters do after the big adventure ends.
> 
> So of course I wrote a few different ending chapters…

-Calnus, engine room, Precis

This trip was such an amazing tease! All these wonderful machines around her and she wasn’t allowed to touch any of it without being watched or to ask questions about how they worked. She could see familiar pieces that sat in her home, but unbroken and in the systems they were meant to run in. While she could watch the windows, it actually wasn’t all that interesting as space seemed to be a lot of, well, empty space. And she could watch the crew working, but a lot of what they did went through their computers which she couldn’t watch them working from over their shoulder. So much to learn about, but first they had to convince this federation that it was okay to let Expellians learn.

There were a few things she’d picked up still. For one thing, there really was nearly nothing in space. Combined with her observations that movement generally required something to push against (even if it was something like the ground, water, or air), she figured that something about the design of the starships allowed them to move when there was nothing to push against to start moving. But then how did they turn or stop moving, and what about the design started them moving? In one relaxing area, she found a model of the Calnus, so she looked it over to figure out what she could just based on what it looked like.

“Precis, here you are,” Opera said, approaching her. “What’re you doing?”

“Just looking at stuff and thinking,” she said. “It’s all they’re letting em do for now. But you can bet I’ll have tons of questions once they start answering me.”

“I’m sure of that,” she said, smiling. “Actually, there’s something I’d like you to do, as part of our arguments to help you out. I will have to show you a bit of how to operate a computer, but as long as you don’t go poking around outside of what it is, we’re all right.”

“Okay, sure,” she said.

Over along one of this room’s walls, there was a long row of the computers, but not ones that were hooked into the ship’s systems. Opera brought up one of the things it did, then let her sit in the chair in front of it. “Now this is a puzzle game about gears and mechanical systems, something a lot of kids would play. I turned off most of the explanations of how things work, but I want to see how far you can get with what you know. Just move the pieces in place by sliding the pen around the screen, like that.”

“Oh, okay, so make the mechanisms work? That’s easy.”

Opera also showed her how to rotate the view on the puzzle, although the first group were two-dimensional so no rotation was needed. It was easy for the most part, but it was proof that she could do it.

* * *

 

-Opera

Getting the Pangalactic Federation to agree to take in the Nedian refugees was easy. They were even working quickly to find a neighborhood to take them all in as well as teachers and others to help them adjust. And while most of them were an a similar level (or even weaker) in knowledge to the average citizen of the Federation, there were a few very valuable people such as Mirage, Professor Reyfus, and even Chisato to a degree. However, Mirage already said that once she got a patent on her improvements to the universal translation devices, she wasn’t planning on release any new technology to the Federation. They hadn’t seemed happy with that. On the other hand, Reyfus had brought with him a full copy of the Nedian Library database. It was mostly based on history, including the rise and fall of other galactic civilizations. That was quite a boost for Opera and others in her field of history research.

But getting the Federation to agree to contact Expel for possible alliance and assistance, that required going to a lot of different committee meeting and providing many of the same arguments. Precis got tired of it early on, but Opera let her give different demonstrations of her knowledge to keep it at least somewhat interesting for her. Particularly if the demonstration fit into the interests of part or the whole of the committee, which might make them lean to accept. Ernest was getting worn out by it too; he was used to simply going off on his own if the bureaucracy route would take more time than he liked. But Opera was used to this from her position in the university to her position in her family, and Claude even seemed to be doing well despite his lack of familiarity with the ambassadorial process. They’d persevere.

“How did they get a hold of advanced technology?” one of this committee asked.

“It was an accident of a Federation ship that was never found, so it couldn’t be cleaned up,” she said. Hopefully the wording didn’t anger them. “It occurred thirteen years ago and has given one aggressive country on the world a far greater advantage than it should have naturally.’

“How far along are they in developing it on their own?

“According to my observations, Expel should be on course to a revolution in thought to advance their technology and society levels on its own. Not to space exploration levels, but towards coming out of an era of a feudal structure and into one with electricity as a major power. Or even a unique method of energy generation involving vacuum symbology, which was apparently how they developed the Lacour Hope, their first super weapon. But even that would not have come as quickly as it had if it hadn’t been for the wreck.” Or from the influence of the Ten Wise Men, but that argument was to come later. “With the technology from the wreckage, though, there’s a strong chance that the country of Lacour will end up taking out its competition, suppressing social development, and controlling all technological advantages.”

Later on, there came a question of, “How would you propose to rebalance technology on Expel without going into a direct policing of this world’s political structure?’

Would that let them avoid allowing access to Expel? That could be a problem, since she and Ernest had agreed to return to Expel for a visit in a few months, and Claude wanted to either move to Expel to be with Rena or bring her back to the Federation with him. “That still needs some research, but I would give other countries a few advances to get on an even level, with a few pieces of advice to avoid some problems that could tun against them. Still, they will need to be monitored to some degree. It would also be good to give them incentive to advance peacefully, such as letting them know we’re out there to be allies and more direct supporters once they figure out how to meet certain technology and sociology goals.”

Some of the committee looked agreeable to the proposal, but now it was gong to be a long wait for the full council to weigh in all the committee reports and decide what their position on Expel would be.

* * *

 

-Ernest

Many generations ago, there had been a war on Tetragenes that ultimately gave them the technology to leave their world. It also rendered the surface of their planet unlivable, so the entire population was forced to build upwards to find clean and safe living. They were in the process of reclaiming their surface, so it was starting to improve. On the other hand, Earth had managed to get to space travel technology without completely wrecking their planetary ecosystem. The benefit was quite clear, as ancient landmarks were often left meticulously cared for on the ground even though new cities were built large and dense, even up in orbit in their planetary system.

“If it wasn’t for the satellite receiver towers, you could imagine this place being on a world like Expel,” Opera said, about the small town and countryside of the Italian state they were in. “They even made those nice looking.”

“Or until you go inside, at least some places,” Ernest said. “They don’t have many places to actually go out and explore around here, though. All ruins are claimed by conservation and historical groups, although there are a few caves with potential.”

“I heard there’s some great places for roughing it in wilderness, like the Australian outback,” she said. “Also, how long are you going to be able to stick to traveling between Expel, Tetragenes, and Earth as one of the ambassadors?”

Teasing him for his wanderlust. But that was okay; she indulged him in it more often than not, even giving just a token resistance to coming along if he wasn’t quite done. “As long as I can spend most of my time on Expel, I think I’ll be okay since there’s less of it explored and explained,” he said, smiling. “What about you? We need to get back to the university to take those ambassadorial classes, but then you’ll have to give up teaching there for a while.”

She smiled, looking forward to it. “Well I’ll have far more interesting things to teach to the Expellians. Most of all, finding ways to break them out of their patriarchy mindsets so their women can be more independent and acknowledged.”

“I’m sure you can do that,” Ernest said, smiling back. This seemed like a good moment; he wasn’t even going to try building up to it or something, since he knew he’d get tongue-tied at some point. “Say Opera, do you want to get married?”

“Where did that come from?” she asked, laughing a little.

He shrugged and rubbed his head. “Well you know… if I tried to do some big romantic thing, I’d end up messing it up somehow. And we’re going back to Tetragenes soon, which means your family is going to keep nagging you about it the whole time we’re supposed to be taking these classes. So I’ll just ask now.”

“Well that’s if they’re not nagging me about this ambassador gig,” Opera said. “Of course, I’d love to get married to you. Were you thinking of doing that before we got back to Expel?”

“It could be interesting to hold a wedding there, but I was thinking before,” he said. Since just an engagement would be not enough to put a hold on others bugging them.

“Either way, we’ll have to work it around classes,” she said, putting a hand to her chin. “Oh, but… hey you remember that time I dragged you out to my cousin’s wedding?”

“I remember that a lot of it was so dull that I don’t remember all of it,” Ernest said. The usual wedding talks, which were supposed to be simple and sincere expressions of love, had dragged on and on in an opulent but formulaic manner, to the point where it wasn’t clear if they were repeating themselves. Then there had been those over elaborate outfits as displays of wealth, which even he as a guest had been made to wear a hat that looked silly to him and a particular color scheme that he’d had to go shopping for. “About the only thing that made it worth going to was the food, and even that was only if you were choosy about it.”

Opera nodded. “Right. And remember how my mother was going on about it being presumptuous because of his place in the family not being worth the level of elaborateness? She’s going to want to beat that since I’m the family heir.”

All of a sudden, this seemed like a horrible idea. They could try to keep her mother out of the wedding plans, but that was as futile as keeping paper safe in an inferno. “Uh, right… say Opera, what do you think of getting married while we’re still here on Earth?”

She grinned and clasped his hand. “That sounds like the best plan I’ve heard in a long time. Let’s make sure to grab Precis and Claude when we do. You know, to have witnesses to stave off any complaints about it not being right.”

“It’s be nice if all our friends could be here for it, but we’ll be sure to bring them.”

* * *

 

-Claude

“Do you have to be like that out in public?”

It was funny to watch Precis being the calm and mature one while Opera and Ernest were being ridiculously silly having just come back from their short honeymoon. The spaceport was busy, leaving a fair number of people to stare for a few minutes at the two Tetragenes. Perhaps they were annoyed, or perhaps they were jealous. One didn’t have to know them to see that they were in love.

“Oh no, we could do a lot worse, but we like you too much for that,” Ernest said, sitting with his arm around Opera’s shoulders. “You want some real entertainment, just wait until we have to go meet with the Vectras.”

Opera giggled. “Yes, but remember, we have to be strategic like about that.”

“Yes, very strategic like.”

“Like what?” Claude asked, grinning. “Chess level or tic-tac-toe level?”

“Hey, don’t knock on the strategy required in childhood games,” Opera said. “They can use more than some video games.”

“Well it depends on how they react to the news,” Erenest said. “Both the marriage and ambassador position. If they’re okay with it, then fine, we’ll behave ourselves. If they’re not okay with it, then anything goes.”

Opera poked him. “Well except my mother because she is going to complain about anything she can. I’m sure that no matter how we put it, she’s going to act like me having a small wedding is the most horrifying thing ever.”

“You think acting embarrassingly lovey-dovey is going to win her over?” Precis asked, tilting her head.

The two of them laughed. “Maybe it would!” Opera said. “Turn it into a story of passion and adventure that’ll knock anyone’s socks off.”

“Or get her to accept you as long as you stop talking about it,” Claude said.

“Wait, that’s actually a good plan,” Ernest said, nearly seeming serious about it.

“Oh geez, maybe I’ll sit that meeting out,” Precis said. Then the intercom announced that the ship headed for Tetragenes was ready for boarding. “There it is! Do you think this crew will answer my questions?”

“Probably will, but I think I’ll tag along if you’re going to be questioning them,” Opera said.

“Gotta keep them from being shocked at her overwhelming curiosity?” Ernest asked, this time making Precis laugh.

“Good luck with that,” Claude said. “Looks like this is where we part for now. Hope your classes are good.”

“Eh, our part's the easy one,” Ernest said, giving him a handshake. “You’ve got hell to come in your advanced training. Make sure you survive to our meeting in Expel.”

“I’ll be there, you can count on it,” Claude said. He said goodbye to the other two and saw them off to the boarding teleport pad. Then he headed off to the military section of the spaceport, to catch his ship to more training.

It was quite an honor, though, training to be a special agent for the Pangalactic Federation. He hadn’t even tried to apply at the end of his regular training, since he knew his father was going to pull him for duty on the Calnus as soon as he qualified to serve on an exploring vessel. But with this training, he’d actually be prepared and certified for missions like what he had done recently on Expel. Well, maybe not entirely like that. He would be able to travel freely through and even outside Federation territory, on assigned missions or investigations. Sometimes it would be Federation officials giving him orders, but he could take on jobs from places like their university. There was a lot he could do… although the interesting thing would be finding a way to allow Rena to travel with him, if she was still willing to do so.

Once he showed his pass to the guards, the activity in the halls around him went way down. A small group fresh from other training courses was waiting for the arrival of their ship. Claude wondered for a moment if the training officers would treat him fairly, without hoping for connections to Ronixis or even considering what he’d been through on Expel and Energy Nede. But if they didn’t, this time around he’d tell them not to do that.

There was a hiss from one of the smaller passages, just before he reached the waiting area. Claude paused and saw someone come out from there: his father in a very ordinary Federation uniform. One might not even guess that he was an admiral. “I know you didn’t want a fuss about this, but I wanted to see you off too.”

Claude smiled, then hugged his dad. “Thanks. Wish we could have spent some more time together, though.”

“That’s just how things go,” he said. “And I have to say, I underestimated you before. I’m proud of what you’ve done, Claude, and I’m sure you’ll do more great things.”

“I’m proud to be your son, dad.” And that was the truth from his heart.

* * *

 

-Celine

As glamorous as the life of a princess was, Celine felt a lot better when she could be on the road. It’d be really great if she could explore some wilder areas, but after being kept in the castle for nearly a year, this was a breath of fresh air in more ways than one. It was even making Chris happier to be out and about; he really liked this trip of visiting the major communities of Cross on official business, so maybe more trips like this were in their future.

Of course, there was a strange reason for this trip. They were escorting some ambassadors to see some towns and meet with people, but they weren’t from Lacour or Eluria. They were from completely different worlds, with their suns being the stars in Expel’s sky. Not only that, but they were eager to help Expel become a greater place, possibly reaching the stars themselves in a couple generations. There was a lot of ground to cover between then and now. Yet, it seemed like many great things could come out of this.

These two ambassadors might have been dismissed as crazy a year ago. But, things had changed and many strange things had happened. There had already been talk going around about these other worlds, from a giant star ship landing in southern Cross (which was true) to residents of these distance worlds walking on Expel (also true, as she’d met a few, some knowingly, some not). Not only that, but there was the legendary disaster which had occurred, tearing the world apart from the core and raining fire from the heavens. Celine remembered that nightmare well: barely escaping from the collapsing castle with Chris, then feeling like they were going to be roasted alive right before it all ended. At least she’d been with Chris to the end.

But, that wasn’t the end. The legendary Warrior had also come. And it was that boy Claude, even if he had tried to deny it. He and his friends had destroyed the false gods that had overtaken Eluria with the Sorcery Globe, and then helped to reverse time and restore Expel to nearly what it had been before the destruction. Many people knew and remembered this. Celine had dreamed of even more, something she confirmed to be true by writing to Bowman about it and seeing that shimmering weapon on Rena’s hands when she last visited. But Claude had yet to be seen again, although these ambassadors, also Claude’s friends, said that he was doing well and might even come back to visit.

Such a strange adventure, one she nearly could have gone on too. But, going there would have meant missing out on Chris and Celine wouldn’t want to replace him with anything, even an adventure of legend.

Now they were arriving at a town that she felt would be significant. “This is Numra, actually a very new town. It’s been built up by refugees from Lacour.”

“From Lacour?” the girl Precis asked. Oddly enough, she was Expellian too, but had never been to the Cross continent before. So this was all new to her, although this place might be familiar to her too.

Chris nodded. “Right, there’s actually been trouble with Lacour’s king trying to restrict and control the scientists and scholars of the nation. They had built a powerful weapon that could have overwhelmed us before the legendary disaster, but apparently it was lost completely when time was restored and he punished a lot of them for it, even his own daughter. When they came over here, we agreed to help protect them while leaving them free to do their work.”

“What about the plans for the weapon?” Ernest asked.

“I think they were destroyed or lost as well,” Chris said. “The one who made it certainly doesn’t want to rebuild it any time soon.

Precis brightened at seeing someone and rushed over. “DAD!”

The man she’d called looked shocked, but immediately hugged her when she got to him. “Precis! I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you too, old man,” she said. “Oh man, I didn’t bring back many machines, but it’s even better! If I catch up on my education, I’m gonna learn how to build star ships!”

“What?”

Opera chuckled at that. “I think we should leave those two to catch up for a while, don’t you think?”

Celine laughed too. “Yes, seems like a good idea.”

* * *

 

-Penny, Jeb, and Nancy

“There's a couple of representatives from the engineer's guild coming here in a few minutes,” the household butler robot said.

“Ah, they're finally here,” Jeb said, a smile starting to come. They'd been preparing for this pretty much from the day that Penny got refused training for a permanent job. A few months back, he would have expected her to be devastated. Instead, all of their friends had come over immediately and discussed ways to deal with it. It was amazing what a bit of creative thinking with others could come up with.

When the engineers knocked on the door, he answered with a tablet in hand. It was what they thought would happen, as the higher ranked of the pair said, “We have some concerns about illegal building on your property from your daughter.”

“It's not illegal,” Jeb said, offering the tablet. “We checked the laws thoroughly. Want to see for yourselves?”

They weren't sure what to do, likely because this situation didn't come up at all for them. “Ah, sure. The reports said it was in back of your home?”

“Yes, this way.” He brought them through the house to the backyard.

Here, Penny was at work again while Nancy was playing fetch with their robotic dog. Penny was kneeling on top of a small floating platform, putting together a traditional style doghouse while wearing a helmet, gloves, and other pieces of safety gear. The whole piece would look quaint when she had it together, a patch of grassy turf under a smaller wooden version of their home. Except that because their dog could fly, she was making it so the doghouse would hover in the air and not take up ground space in their yard.

“Penny, you've got some visitors from the engineer's guild,” Jeb said, winking at her.

“Hey, great to meet you guys!” she called cheerfully, putting her tools down and jumping right off the platform. Most others her age would have came carefully down the stepladder and walked over. Not her, as she bounced over and energetically shook their hands.

“Er, yes, I suppose so,” the higher ranked engineer said, not expecting that. “But listen, your doghouse here doesn't meet safety standards for building...”

“Yes it does,” Penny said. “We checked three times! The platform has sufficient gravitational force to stay steady while bearing 400 pounds, as per the legal requirement for its surface space. It also remains under six feet from the ground surface while under construction with a stepladder in easy reach and has a warning system for an energy rating dipping below 25 percent, among other problematic signs. Do you want to see the plans I'm using? I made them all myself!”

“You made the plans all yourself?” the lower ranked engineer asked, amazed.

She nodded. “Yup, I did lots of research on the mechanisms that make platforms work and on construction methods. You all wouldn't accept me as an engineer, but after I looked into it, I'm perfectly fine with that because you guys only repair stuff. You don't actually engineer or build stuff anymore! So I made it my life hobby to be a construction engineer.”

“Can she do that?” the lower ranked engineer asked. “Because I think she can build if she has plans and has it as a hobby. And keeps within safety standards, of course.”

“I don't think it's legal to have construction engineer as a hobby,” the higher ranked one said.

“Actually, there's no laws about it on the books right now,” Jeb said, showing them the tablet again. Before they had arrived, he'd brought up the section of Delrina laws that addressed construction. They had researched as much as they could to help Penny find a way. “Several generations ago, there was a streamlining of laws that got rid of a number of them the legal experts thought were unneeded in our mostly static society. That included laws regarding new constructions aside from safety regulations that mostly pertain to your work.”

“But we found the old laws too, so I know the standards that the neighborhood platforms were built to as well,” Penny said. “That's my big goal, doing enough of these small projects to gain a deed to some empty airspace so I can build a whole new neighborhood. Building these little things like our doghouse is good for making sure my designs and ideas work before I go big scale like that.”

“There's no need for a new neighborhood,” the higher ranked engineer said. “That's why we don't build another.”

“We believe there is need,” Nancy said, joining in their conversation. “After all, the laws we have in place are to keep conflict and distress from occurring. But conflict and distress are occurring anyhow. One of our friends was nearly pressured into restarting her life when she wasn't ready because some rogues among the medical community thought they needed to stimulate the restart rate. Also, we've been requesting a second child ever since she had been with us a year and we're still low on the waiting list. Even those who've not yet had children are waiting years. While it may not cause it openly, it causes conflict and distress in a lot of people internally.”

“Yes, then it would be for the best if there were more places to live as it could solve both issues,” Penny said.

“That sounds reasonable,” the lower ranked engineer said.

“Wait, let me see your work on this,” the higher ranked one said. They left without giving a conclusive answer, but did drop the pending charge.

A few days later, Penny got accepted to taking the full education course for engineers on the reason of 'pertaining to her hobby and life goals'.


	48. Ending B: Finding Home

-Expel, onboard the Calnus, Ashton

The Nedians had made a miracle occur with their sacrifice. Expel was back among the stars, back among the living. Apparently, a lot of people would be confused and there would be some time discrepancies that they couldn't explain. But that was a lot better than Expel ceasing to be.

Even thinking that, Ashton still felt an unease about it. He should be happy, but any time he looked out the windows of this huge space sailing ship to see his home planet, there was a sick sad feeling inside him. Expel had been restored to how it have been shortly before Energy Nede collided with it, over a year after the Sorcery Globe with the Ten Wise Men had crashed into the kingdom of Eluria and completely doomed it. The others were all going to return home. He still didn't have a home.

_Don't be so sad, you can come home with us_ , Ururun said.

“I'm not going to return you two there if I can help it,” Ashton said. “Don't you remember? Energy Stone messed you both up and getting near it will corrupt you again.”

_He's right,_ Gyoro said, nipping at his twin's ear. _So none of us know where we're going, huh? What about that squirt we got stuck to you for?_

“Eleanor?” He shrugged. “Sure, I'd like to visit, but I don't know about sticking around.”

_Aren't you supposed to go marry a girl you saved_? Ururun asked.

“She's a little girl, a child, that's out of the question,” he said. “Besides, this was only for a year. We'll probably be able to split up once that day passes. And that's… uh, four months off I think.” And that made him feel sad too. Strange, thinking that he'd miss being possessed by demonic dragons.

_Unless ******* XINE decides to screw with us some more_ , Gyoro grumbled.

_Aw, I’ll miss you so much Ashton buddy!_ Ururun wailed and put his head against Ashton's, crying.

Trying not to cry himself, Ashton put his hand on Ururun's head. “I'll miss you guys too. Both of you, really.”

_Hmph_ , Gyoro said, trying not to join the sob party. _Guess it was fun at parts, and we wouldn't have gotten to save the whole **** universe if we didn't meet you. But we've gotta let you live your own life. Maybe we'll meet up afterwards, hang out and toast some stupid monsters together. For old times sake._

_And look for lost barrels too?_ Ururun said with a sniffle.

_Sure, lost barrel looking too_ , Gyoro said, cheering Ururun up.

Ashton smiled at them. “Yeah. I don't know where you'd start looking for lost barrels. That's, uh, kind of how they get lost, when people can't find them anymore.”

_There's probably a lost barrel paradise they all roll away to_ , Ururun said. _Floating over the waves, tumbling down the grasslands, eventually coming upon heaven on earth for barrels to frolic in. Oh my gosh, that would be the perfect paradise! I could die happy there._

_You'd better not cause my life is tied to yours_ , Gyoro snapped.

_But do we have to leave Ashton for that?_ Ururun whined.

_He's nice and all, but the truth is that he's a human and sooner or later, he's gonna want to go get married to some girl and oh god I do not want to be in his body when that happens! Seriously, human romance is so boring most of the time! Not even any sharing of the flesh you've rendered together and the interesting bits don't last long._

_What are you talking about?_ Ururun asked. But then Gyoro saying that made Ashton think of something that changed Ururun's mind. _Oh, ew, how do you do that and not break teeth?_

“Tht-hat was just kissing!” Ashton said, feeling his face get warm.

“What's this about kissing?” Mirage asked, walking down the hall their way.

He did not want to face her because he was probably beet red in the face. “N-nothing!” The two dragons shook their heads trying to deny it too.

“Okay then,” she said, amused at it. “So where are you going to be going?”

“We were just trying to figure that out,” he said. Not that the shift in emotions was any better. “I was from Eluria, but I don't really have anywhere to go to now.”

“What about back to Eluria?” she suggested.

“There isn't much left of Eluria,” he said, finally looking at her. She had raised her eyebrow at that. “Because the Sorcery Globe crashed into it and that was well before when you restored everything."

“Not exactly,” Mirage said. “I wanted to bring Expel back to a state it was in before the Wise Men interfered with it. It was easiest for most parts of the world to simply bring it to the state it had been in before the collision. However, in places that they did extensive damage such as Eluria and Clik, it was necessary to pick points in time further back.”

“So what about Eluria?” Ashton asked, having flashbacks to what it had been like after the collision. But, the devastation there had been so extensive. People had turned into demons.

She smiled. “That was a tough nut to crack. There was so much time that had passed and people would remember much more horrific things. However, I got that land and people restored.”

“Really, everyone's back?” He wasn't sure how he felt. After he'd started accepting what had happened then, it had all been undone? It was great, but, a little too miraculous? Even though he'd seen the whole planet brought back from the dead?

“They're going to have worse disorientation than the rest of the world,” Mirage warned. “Like you, they saw the devastation and dealt with it longer. Or they were dead longer. And having restored to a time further back, there's a higher likelihood for mistakes in the restorations to occur. But your nation is restored and people are living there just as they were before your planet had even an inkling there was more life in the universe out there.”

He ended up in tears thanking her that effort, but with a growing fear for how his people were taking this.

* * *

 

When Ashton opened his eyes, he found himself in an alleyway of Eluria Castle Town. It was early morning, the buildings starting to be lit by the sun and only a few carts rolling through the streets. But it was his hometown. There was even a barrel nearby that had a stamp of being used by the castle. While it disappointed Ururun to leave the barrel after only a short look, Ashton left the alley and reoriented himself for where he was. It was back, it really was back.

People started to come out into the streets to go about their days. But there was some confusion in their talk. He had someone ask him what day it was, which he knew better than they did. Only after he gave the answer did it occur to the man that he had dragons on his back. But there were people he wanted to check on personally, so he merely told the man not to worry and hurried on. Technically he should check into the castle. But, he wanted to go home first. They might excuse him once he was able to explain things.

His home looked just as he remembered it when he had last been able to see it for himself. There were his mother’s climbing roses against the wall, the old shield of his father's that had been nailed into the wall, even a doll from one of his younger sisters left outside on mistake. Taking the doll with him, he nearly went right on in, but then thought to knock instead. They might not be sure what happened to him.

_What is with the shield?_ Gyoro asked.

“My father put it there as a sign to prospective thieves that a knight lives here and they'd better think twice about trying to steal from us,” Ashton explained. “It worked, either that or the fact that he tanned the hide of the first one that tried.”

_You'd do better with a sign that says dragons live here_ , Ururun said. _Even if there's no dragons here, nobody would want to mess with a house with dragons._

_Dimwit, we couldn't fit in one of these stone boxes_ , Gyoro said.

_But this one's pretty big_ , Ururun pointed out.

One of his sisters opened up the door, looked up, said, “Hello,” and then stared at him. “Huh, big brother?”

“Hi Jaime,” Ashton said, smiling in relief. They were here, he was home. He offered the doll, “Is this yours?”

“Yeah,” she said, looking at it a moment to take, but then staring back up at Gyoro. “Why've you got dragons on your back?”

“They're friends,” he said, not wanting to explain it right now. “Are Mom and Dad in?”

“Yeah… Mom!” She ran back in. “Ashton's home! And he's a knight, and he's got dragons!”

“What?” she asked, not believing it. Ashton came inside, shutting the door behind him. She looked confused on seeing him. “Ashton, you… you were out on your trial? But I didn't hear about you passing.”

“It's a long story,” he said, coming over and hugging her. “You have no idea, it's been a long time since I’ve seen you all, Mom.”

“You seem older somehow,” she said. “Oh, but I’m glad you're back. Things have been so strange the past few days. All the calenders and clocks are messed up and nobody's sure what day it is anymore, and all the plants have changed. And then your father, the king, and some of the other knights, nobody's sure what's wrong with them.”

“I know what's going on, but it is a long story and I’d rather we gathered some people so I only had to tell it all once,” Ashton said. “Is Dad here? What's wrong with them?”

“They don't seem to know what's going on around them and only show signs of awareness occasionally,” his mother said. “Come here, he's in our room.”

In the corner of his parent's bedroom, his father was sitting in a chair warily. Russell's eyes swept around the room and didn't settle on everything. They didn't even stop on them coming in to see him. By his chair, there was a broom that his mother explained had been put there because she didn't want to put his swords near him while he was like this. He could hurt himself or the girls if he had them, but having the broom nearby was apparently enough to keep him somewhat settled compared to before.

_He's not a demon like you remember_ , Gyoro said after looking over him. _Doesn't have any of that energy on him. But his mind and body probably remembers that and it's a big shock to him to find himself human again, with everything returned._

_Aw, seems like he doesn't believe he's home even though he sees it_ , Ururun added.

“He has a bigger shock to come back to,” Ashton told his mother. “More than time seeming messed up. He'll have to be healed from what happened to him.”

“What happened?” his mother asked again.

He took a deep breath. Did he really want to explain to her that his father had turned into a demon and he'd had to slay him? An idea from Ururun led him to say, “He got possessed, far worse than I am at the moment with these dragons. We have to convince him that he's no longer possessed.”

“Ashton?” his father said, looking at him for a moment. “Oh gods, I’m sorry Ashton, I’m sorry.”

He was talking to him. “It's okay dad, things have gotten better,” he said, hoping that would help.

“I’m sorry,” Russell said, hanging his head and starting to sob.

* * *

 

-4D, Ashe

Now that things had wound down from the big universe-saving quest in the Eternal Sphere, Ashe had some more time to work on his models. He liked putting them together, although Dano was always trying to nudge him more into jigsaw puzzles. But the jigsaws were mostly flat and Ashe liked the three-dimensional nature of the models. Although, since they came with building guides, the models weren't much for puzzles. That was probably why Dano didn't like them.

Even so, he wasn't quite satisfied with them. What did you do with a model after it was built? Some of them had moving parts, flashing lights, and sound chips, but they were mostly there to look at. They were representations of the originals. But, did it have to be that way? Why did you have to follow the guides and make the models just like the originals? What if he wanted to paint one of his space vessels bright pink? Ashe didn't think he would, but couldn't there be more options?

But the model crafting group judged for adherence to the plans, to the original. They docked points for any piece that was the slightest bit out of place, or a visible brushstroke where there shouldn't be one. To get any new models or supplies, those points were needed. And your overall accumulated points dictated your rank in the group, which allowed you access to more models or even early access to specific versions.

However, they didn't care what you did with the models after they had judged them and assigned your points. There was even a small market for selling completed models to people who wanted them for interior decorating without needing to be in the crafting group and working their way up to what they wanted. You could even trash them to the recyclers for all the group cared. While Ashe didn't feel comfortable completely trashing his completed models after the work that went into them, he was getting an idea for something more.

* * *

 

-Expel, Dias

This was not going to turn out well, he thought as he continued down the paths of Mars Forest. Through the thick leaf canopy, the sun's rays were starting to shift color into sunset. While the fae here could be trouble, Dias wasn't worried about himself. He wouldn't even need to bring out Farwell if it turned to night here, as nothing was strong enough to require that holy weapon. But he'd come in here on hearing that a young woman might have gotten herself in trouble deep in the forest. If he didn't find her before nightfall, she would definitely be in trouble.

The light was dimming, but it would go dark fast, and soon. In that, he saw the signs of attack magic through the trees, a blue glow amid the green flora and golden sun. Dias hurried in that direction, finding the path turn to cobblestone. This led to an old stone shrine, covered in moss and ivy but sheltering a four foot tall statue of a goddess with antlers. Here, a young woman matching the description he was given was fighting off a large wolfman. It seemed he was unneeded as she finished it off with a storm of ice spikes.

“Is this another petitioner?” a voice from the statue said, causing another wolfman to appear in a leafy swirl.

Dias walked over calmly, dispatching the wolfman in accordance to his fighting style without stopping. “No, I came looking for her,” he said.

“Is it my parents?” the young woman, Lissa, asked. She had seafoam green hair that lay in uneven curls, and a relatively light pattern of heraldry tattoos on her exposed arms.

From the looks of the area and her equipment, she was pretty well prepared. “Their fears may have been unfounded, but they still want you to return quickly.”

“When I'm done,” she said, then turned to the antlered statue. “What else would you have me do?”

“Nothing, you have proven your worth as a potential summoner to me,” the spirit inhabiting the statue said. Petals appeared around Lissa and inscribed a new heraldic tattoo on one of the blank portion of her right arm. “Lissa, you are welcome to summon the spirits of the woods. Treat them well and they shall serve you well. But should you anger them, this privilege may be revoked. And you, young man.”

Dias raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“Your skill and potential are tremendous, but you've set your eyes on no path. This new summoner must travel the wilds of the world if she wishes to master the path she has chosen. Would you consider accompanying her, at least until she becomes sufficient on her own?”

“Huh?” Lissa asked, surprised. “Well, a traveling companion would be convenient. I was just going to hitch rides with traders and see about talking locals into helping.”

He nearly blew it off, but the fact that the goddess specifically say that he had no path unsettled him. “I'll consider it, no promises,” Dias said. He'd need to question and observe her on their way back to Mars to see if this was a reasonable plan. “Are you done here? We need to get back before dark falls.”

“Just about,” she said, then bowed to the statue. “Thank you kindly for your acceptance, I'll treat my summons fairly.”

* * *

 

The whole reason Dias had been in Mars was because Rena wanted to do some study into heraldry before Claude came back. When they'd been given the option of being teleported anywhere in the world from the Calnus, the two of them had both declined in favor of walking back to Arlia. People there had been surprised to see him after so many years, but they welcomed him back warmly. It had been an emotional return home, but Dias still couldn't quite accept it as home yet and longed to be out on the road. So when Rena brought up the idea, he agreed to escort her to Mars.

“Are you settled in now?” Dias asked her when he found her in the elder's library.

“Hmm?” she asked, looking up from a book then smiling. “Oh, yes. I'm having a bit of a hard time getting into the studies, though. I'm not used to magic being the way they describe it. When I try to cast by what's here, it doesn't quite work right.”

“You have your way and they have theirs,” he said.

Rena sighed. “I guess, but I'm still going to study. What are you going to be doing now?”

Dias shrugged. “Not really decided. I have had an offer to follow a girl named Lissa while she goes on a journey to study summon spirits.”

“Oh, I've met her,” she said, brightening at the idea. “She's very spirited and determined even though she's after a more difficult magic that most people don't want to focus on. It'd be good for someone like you to support her in that.”

“She is spirited,” he agreed. “I was thinking of going with her.”

“Aw Dias, do you have a crush on her?” Rena asked, now smiling.

He should have felt more annoyed, but somehow it was embarrassing this time. “No. I just want to work on my capacity to protect people and this seems like a good place to start.”

“Well I’ll take your word for it,” she said, although she didn't seem convinced. “Be sure to write, though. I don't want to have to go months without hearing about you again.”

“What about when you take off to the stars eventually?” Dias asked her.

“We'll find ways,” Rena said, sure of that.

* * *

 

“I remember people talking that Clik got completely annihilated,” Lissa said as they looked over the port's lights across the moonlit bay. “Like there was nothing but a few roofs on top of the water, and tons of debris choking up the waves. But that time was like a tragic violent dream the whole world had, and then we woke up from the nightmare. Funny thing, isn't it? I wonder if the Warrior came down and did that.”

Sitting on the beach and practicing on his guitar, Dias contemplated not saying anything. There was some part of his mind trying to insist that he shouldn't. Then he would remember a mountain of glass and what strength really meant. Letting his life come to a halt because of tragedy, that wasn't strength. “He did.”

The shoreline around Clik had been Lissa's first suggestion of finding another spirit to get approval as a summoner from. Summoning was an old way of magic that apparently not many favored anymore. Certainly her parents hadn't been too thrilled to learn that she had gone to do that. But now that she had one spirit's approval, she'd convinced the elders and her parents to let her go take that path. Dias didn't find Lissa terribly annoying and she had a certain path to follow, so he decided to come along to teach her how to get along on the road, and protect her until she could. It was something to do.

“Seems like it,” she said. “But what makes you so sure?”

“I was there,” he said, stopping his practice and looking out across the ocean towards Eluria. “I fought with the Warrior. Expel died and I saw it happen. Then it came back to life and I saw that happen too.”

“Really?” She stopped wandering around and plopped down beside him. “What was it like? What really happened? I've got to know, it's been driving me nuts but nobody wants to talk about it.”

Dias gave her a strict look. “It's getting late. We're best off getting to sleep back by the fire.”

Lissa pouted. “You're not going to talk about it either?”

“Not tonight,” he said, standing up to go back. “You asked me earlier why I only use one of my swords.”

“Yeah?” she followed suit.

“The other one is reserved for demons who could threaten the world again.”

* * *

 

-4D, Dano

If this were in the Eternal Sphere, a place like this would be bustling with chatter and socializing. Dano couldn't help but think that as he looked over the coffeeshop where not many tables were taken. The few people who were here were quietly discussing business in small groups or on their own checking over their devices. Then he thought, he wouldn't even be noticing if it hadn't have been for him meeting CJ and the others. Even this was pretty daring and he couldn't be sure the person he was meeting with wasn't going to back out.

It all started when Dias took on the job to escort Lissa around on her quest to become a summoner. Before all this, Dias would have done the job and say very little along the way. His demeanor grated on others, sort of like Dano himself found others starting arguments with him more often than not. But whether it was something about the whole planet-ending and saving adventure or something about Lissa, he was getting along better with her than anyone else in years. And it wasn't even Rena interfering and making him make friends.

Lissa's player Louisa had contacted him shortly after the summoning quest had started. At first, she was mostly starstruck about getting to play with someone as recently famous as himself while he was annoyed at the treatment by that point. But Louisa started asking him questions about character development and what Delrina could be like and Dano found himself warming up to her. So he suggested they meet up face to face sometime.

And now here he was waiting on her. “Wonder if it's him influencing me,” Dano mumbled into his coffee. He'd thought Dias probably would stay single, but he was starting to change in his thoughts about his new traveling companion.

Then someone came in the door and pinged for his ID card to find out where he was. She came over to his table with a big smile and a bounce in her step. “Hey there! This is a rare treat, huh? Haven't been in a coffeehouse since my school days.”

“It doesn't have to be rare,” Dano said.

She was very chatty, much like she was in a chatroom or playing as Lissa. But also like Lissa, Louisa had lots of ideas and an interesting manner of looking at things. She questioned a lot and made him think about things in ways he wouldn't have considered. In that, she was fascinating and Dano wanted to talk with her more.

* * *

 

-Expel, Eluria, Ashton

For the first time in a few months, Ashton was out patrolling the countryside with his father. Russell and the others who had survived the initial impact had a lot of issues they were slowly coming back from. Some had gotten severely depressed while others were paranoid. In Russell's case, he had a hard time distinguishing between now and the past that had been undone. He got aware of his family with him but then remembered turning into a demon as if reliving it. But he had a clearer mind and wasn't turning into a demon. More often that not, this led him to locking himself in the basement and only letting Ashton in. He was getting better about convincing himself that he was staying human, so he'd been allowed to take on the duties of a knight again.

Things were uncertain around Eluria because of troubles like this. Anyone who was of able mind was either taking care of those who didn't or being conscripted to the farms or other necessary work as available manpower was suddenly at an all time low. As the king was one of the strongest afflicted, the queen was now working in his stead. It was unheard of for a woman to be leading the country of Eluria. But she was proving herself well in these trying times, as were other women called into jobs that normally only men would hold. Ashton thought they ought to remember that when things got back to normal. For him, things were back to normal in another way as he'd been released from his job of watching over the twin dragons. It was nice to have his mind back to himself and not having people staring at him. But then Gyoro and Ururun turned out attached to him in another way when they came back from trying to find a haunt around Eluria. First the pink ice dragon came back to him alone and wanted his company. The red fire dragon tried to claim his independence for longer, but then came for the company too. Now Gyoro and Ururun were the first dragons recognized as part of Eluria's army. That had been a good boost for the country's security with many of their strongest knights out of commission. Their only knight able in body and mind had been Ashton himself.

The horses still tensed when the two dragons came up to him and Russell, but they were getting used to it. While they weren't as large as they had been when Ashton first found them, Gyoro and Ururun were still larger than the horses. _Got some wolves hanging out near the grazing lands over here_ , Ururun said.

_It's a shame we're down to picking at wolves_ , Gyoro grumbled, shaking his head.

_But you smacked more around than me_ , Ururun said.

“I’m sure the shepherds would be pleased,” Ashton said. A few of the stronger monsters had survived the rebirth of the planet, but it was looking like he'd dispatched most of them now.

“Ashton?” Russell asked, pulling his horse alongside him again.

“Something up?” he asked.

“It's quiet, so, could we go over that way?” He pointed off to an unused area of land outside the farms of this little town. The sheep flocks seemed to be elsewhere at the moment.

Even though Ashton hadn't been in this area of Eluria much, he knew what that area was. “Are you sure about that?” he asked. “I mean, I don't mind if you want to, but do you really?”

“Yeah,” he said. This request worried Ashton, but he nodded and guided his horse over there. That was the area where Russell had finally turned into a demon, and where he'd had to fight him to the death.

Once there, Russell got off his horse and Ashton did the same. What did he want here? Russell just looked around quietly for several minutes. Ashton himself didn't feel too unnerved to be here. It wasn't the same. In the vibrant green of the grass, the distant bleating of the sheep, the calm and very normal landscape around them, it didn't look like somewhere where something bad would happen.

Then Russell laughed bitterly, putting a hand on his head. “I had nightmares of this place. Bleak and evil, when it felt like something horrible was being birthed in my mind and then all I could do was watch. But this place, it's quiet. Sheep droppings and grass, normal things.”

“It was made to never happen,” Ashton said.

“But it did happen,” Russell said, dropping his hand, then turning to face him. “I remember losing control and the last thing I could do was challenge you out of desperation. But you managed to overcome me, stopped my Sword Dance right dead. Sometimes I can convince myself that none of that happened, but then you're here... but that's a relief to me somehow.”

“You should always appreciate second chances,” he said. “Especially ones that make things better.”

He nodded. “I’m trying to. But how did you live with yourself after that?”

That hurt some to remember, but it wasn't bad. “I tried to forget about it all for a while,” Ashton admitted, being honest with his father. “Hid my knight's badge for a long time, but couldn't bring myself to fully get rid of it either. The weirdest thing to me is that I was coming to terms with what had happened here and it all got undone. I'm really grateful for that, but it is hard to make a new life with the old one hanging on so vividly. But this is where we are, you know? The sun rises over Eluria as it should be now and we need to be here to protect the land and people.”

_God this is boring_ , Gyoro said. _Call me when you do something interesting_.

_Oh don't be a mood killer_ , Ururun said, trying to nip him but Gyoro could get away easier.

Ashton glanced at them, then sighed. He was still the only one who heard them, except now they couldn't even use his voice to communicate with humans. “You both too, sorry for leaving you out,” he said sarcastically.

But Russell smiled some at this. “Heh, yeah, we should be grateful. I'm grateful I could get a second chance in life. I get to see you like this, commanding dragons and being a better knight than I am.”

“I'm not better than you,” Ashton said reflexively, feeling embarrassed but happy at his father's praise. “If you were in good shape and health, you'd be better than me.”

“Well then I'll just have to focus on getting back to myself to see if you're right,” Russell said, smiling even more. “But you know, I never did get to see you learn Sword Dance. You did figure that out?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but there hasn't been anything around worth using it or some of my other skills on now.”

_And you've got something better than Sword Dance too!_ Ururun said, perking his head up.

“Well it might be more powerful, but it takes more time,” Ashton said.

“You've got something more powerful than Sword Dance?” Russell asked, surprised at this.

“Yeah, but like I said, I’ve got nothing to use them against,” he said.

“That's good, you've got the wisdom a runic knight should have,” he said in approval. “But, I still want to see. Come on.” He drew out his swords. “I can block Sword Dance, but can't say about whatever else you have.”

That was right, he hadn't gotten to show his father yet. Ashton drew out his swords; not Levantine because nothing called for the masterwork swords that were Levantine. “All right, I’ll show you.”

His father was in good enough shape to keep just ahead of Ashton's Sword Dance (albeit, he was holding back just in case). Then on Gyoro's suggestion, Ashton showed off Tri-Ace by targeting a rocky patch of land where not even grass was growing in yet. It left a mess of shallow craters in the ground, but they figured some rains and winter melt-off would turn that into a little pond by next year. Better than that, Russell was really happy to see how his powers had grown. His recovery improved a great deal from that point forward.

* * *

 

-Hoffman Island, Dias

It had been several months that Lissa and Dias were on the road, enough that he felt comfortable working on his poetry while they were out camping. Usually he wouldn't even bring the notebook out around others. Of course, she kept trying to peek at what he was doing and he wouldn't let her. It was getting to be a game, one that he was trying not to admit was one he anticipated.

Tonight, there could be trouble. He'd been observing their surroundings ever since they stopped for the day, searching around the Hoffman Ruins for a summon spirit that was supposed to be living here. They weren't underground where the raw energy stone was a threat now, but the monsters that had grown strong off it were still roaming about. Although he'd been formulating a plan to deal with the problem, Dias felt uneasy and nervous about bringing it up with Lissa. This could be a bad time. On the other hand, if stories were true, it'd be easier to locate the summon spirit if they dealt with this.

His mind drifted to the demonic Smokey Swamp he'd went through. Finding the end to the purpose in life he made for himself, Dias had found himself alone, surrounded by madness. Nearly got himself killed and he hadn't felt satisfied, just, empty. It took Rena pulling him into her quest with her friends that made him see how he'd not grown at all in those years when she became someone strong and pure.

Holding his pencil to the notebook but not writing anything now, Dias lowered his head and closed his eyes. He could still feel that miasma sickness vividly even though he'd been cleared of it for nearly a year now. But loneliness could be just as painful. At one time, he used to think it was like a whetting stone, keeping him sharp. It just kept him in pain, unable to let go and move on.

There was a soft footfall near him, trying so hard to be silent but not knowing the right way to move. She wasn't even moderating her breath as he could hear that. Shifting his right hand to cover the other page, he rubbed at his eyes with the left and…

“Got it!” Lissa squealed in victory, taking off to the other side of their campfire with the loose page. “Hah ha, weeks of trying and I finally got one!”

“Those are my private thoughts,” he said sternly, getting up from the rock he'd been sitting on.

“But I'm gonna read what you're writing all the time, finally,” she said, taking a look at the page. “'Dear Lissa…' huh?”

Using the silent walking that she couldn't attain, Dias went over to her. It was no good trying to talk about his feelings. He'd get self-conscious and not be able to make himself speak. However, he'd been writing out his feelings through this poetry as the only outlet that he could keep secret. It wouldn't be amazing, but it would be what he couldn't say himself. But even the written word only went so far. Once he was near her, he watched her eyes.

Once she was near the bottom of the page, Dias put his arms around her.

He was scared. He didn't want to lose her. He thought for a while it'd be fine if he just walked away on his own, like always. But then he started thinking, what if he walked away and when he looked back, she was gone? That would be no different than if he stayed with her. Then he thought, if he was scared to lose her, it meant that he wanted to stay with her. Keep traveling the roads, keep listening to her chatting away about magic and spirits and the wonderful landscape, and everything that seemed to interest her. Keep her closer. He was starting to feel happy just being with someone.

Fortunately, she didn't try to escape him.

* * *

 

-4D, Dano

Dano liked to think that he didn't get angry over many things. But this was one of those exceptions. “You tricked us into taking the marriage interviews when we hadn't applied!” he snapped at the clerk in the marriage counseling building. “There are laws against invasion of privacy and that was a clear transgression of that.”

The clerk herself was probably not at fault, but she was doing her best to stick to her department's policy. This was a job, after all, and there were waiting lists of people wanting any job to pass time with. “You've both been reported as being interested in a change in life and with this primitive dating that you two have been doing, it was felt best to see about getting you two settled down.”

“There's nothing wrong with what we've been doing,” Dano argued.

“That's right,” Louisa said, fuming just as much as him over this fiasco. “We're full grown adults here, not children who have to be coddled and protected against every little thing. Let people make mistakes in Delrina once in a while, it'll remind them that we're still human and we'll learn how to grow around it. We were doing it for thousands of years before, there's no reason to cut off the possibilities entirely.”

“But if we stray out of the rules, chaos will be introduced and there'll be imperfections in the world again,” the clerk said, starting to sweat now.

“If we were satisfied with what you're calling perfection, we wouldn't be messing around with an imperfect game universe and learning more there than here,” Dano said.

“It's just not done,” the clerk tried to plead, but then she found a welcome distraction in an alert on her screen. “It'll be fine, the marriages all go smoothly…. Huh?” She frowned at the screen. Dano shook his head and leaned on the counter. They needed to cool down, it seemed. Get the marriage applications delayed until when they were actually interested. “Ah, well that works for you.”

“What works?” Louisa asked.

“The profiling and matching just came back in on you both and approved of you both to marry each other,” the clerk said. “So you can skip all the dating mess and we'll arrange a new home and change of status for you both.”

“No,” Dano said. And to his surprise, Louisa said it at the same time. He looked at her and she looked back, equally surprised.

“Uh, doesn't that solve the issue?” the clerk asked.

“No it doesn't,” Louisa said. “We weren't looking to get married, we were just looking to find natural ways to get closer before your group interfered. It's very nice and all to have the government stamp of approval, but we want to take this at our own pace and get married when we feel we're ready to.”

“Exactly, some people just don't want to jump right in all at once with this kind of life change,” Dano said. And he had a feeling that more people would feel like that if they knew the option was out there.

“I guess not,” the clerk admitted. But then there was another fuss in that she had no idea how to remove them from the matching database without removing the approval for marriage. She called a few people who also didn't know what to do. For temporary purposes, all that they could manage was to put their status as married in the computer so it didn't try to match them with others, but hold off on filling out the application for new housing and all the other things that came with marriage.

When they left the marriage office, Louisa sighed. “So the computers will think we're married now.”

“Yup,” Dano said.

“And here I was enjoying a taste of real life dating, you know? When things weren't decided and we could just have fun. Though I was having a lot of fun being around you.” She smiled at him.

Nodding, an idea came to him. It had a feeling like fitting in a crucial piece of a jigsaw puzzle and having the rest fall into place. “I was too. Well, how about we make a deal? Since we're technically married now.”

“What kind of deal?” she asked, tilting her head in curiosity.

“When Dias and Lissa end up getting married, we'll finalize our marriage. They know what a natural pace feels like better than we do, so we'll take steps alongside them.” Given that the computer matched them so quickly and that their Eternal Sphere characters were nearly identical to them in personality, it made sense that the pieces would keep falling into place for the characters to end up married. In months, in years? They couldn't tell and it would be more interesting on both sides that way.

“Sounds like a good deal to me,” Louisa said. They shook hands to seal their agreement.

* * *

 

-Eluria, Ashton

One day when he was in the castle, Ashton got approached by the princess of Eluria. “My parents are fond of one of the flowers that grows in a forest outside the castle,” she explained. “They were talking about them last night and I wondered if bringing home a bouquet of those would help ease my father's heart. Would you escort me out there?”

“Sure, I think we can do that,” he said. After all, more of the knights were on duty taking the burden of daily work off him. He first made sure that the queen was fine with the princess leaving the castle and that there were enough guards around town for him to be gone for the day. While the captain of the guard teased him for getting to spend the day with the princess, Ashton was allowed to go out to help with her request.

It wasn't a particularly exciting mission. There were only a few weaker monsters that tried to interfere, but they picked up quickly that he was far better than them and they were better off keeping away. Along the way, the princess asked him questions and talked. “I remember you were a clumsy boy, hurting yourself more often than not in learning,” she said. “But you've grown to be one of our best.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m one of the best,” Ashton said, trying to keep cool here. But then, she was clever and not exactly a sheltered girl. He probably couldn't fool her. “I’ve got a lot of great people I admire and I work to be just as great. Although, when you are as clumsy as I am, you have to work really hard to get past it.”

“You're not clumsy at all now,” she said. Well he had overcome that, but he stayed mindful not to slip up.

Once they had the bundle of blue and white flowers, they headed back. On getting her safely to the castle, Ashton bowed to her. “I hope that helps your father.”

“Me too,” she said, letting some of her sadness show. But then she was calm and collected again. “I did have a reason to ask you in particular to come with me today.”

“Oh, why's that?” It didn't seem like anything that would need a runic knight; she could have gone with one of the regular knights, or her actual guard.

“Father and mother have been talking about seeing me married soon,” she explained. “Mother and I are getting him convinced that I could led Eluria myself with how they've educated me, but they'd still rather have this settled soon. Your name was pretty high up on the candidate list they've been discussing.”

Ashton was caught in shock for a moment. Him, marry the princess? That seemed crazy, his luck was never that good. Although, it'd not been that bad either ever since the adventure to Energy Nede. “Uh, r-really?”

“Nothing's been decided on other than potentials, so it's still up in the air,” she said.

“Of course,” he said, checking his hopes before they got too strong. But, who knew? “Are they letting you help with the decisions? Because it is your marriage and life, so you ought to be able to have the last say in these matters.”

“I know, I’m working on that and figuring out what I think of their suggestions.” Then she smiled at him. “That's why I brought you out with me today. Thank you. I may be seeing you again sometime soon.”

“You're welcome,” Ashton said, then wondered what kind of impression he'd left on her today.

* * *

 

-4D, Ashe

Ashe's display page of his modeling hobby did show off some of his better scoring models, including the few rares he'd managed to earn. However, it also included a picture that was considered odd among the modeling hobbyists. It showed where he had dismantled one of his Earth Federation spaceships and put the parts back together to form a little cafe. He'd even taken the little crew models and repainted them into chefs, waitresses, and customers. With a bit of ingenuity, he'd even managed to make a few tiny cups of coffee and plates of cafe snacks.

With the pictures for that, he included a note that he had more reconstructs of models, but he wasn't going to post them on the page and curious visitors should ask to come see them in person.

Reconstructing models after getting the fullest amount of points for them wasn't unheard of, although it was a tiny group in the full hobby. But not displaying every piece he'd done online was considered very strange even among other reconstructionists. Ashe still got visitors, though. Sometimes it was people who'd come across his hobby page on accident, sometimes it was those who found his work through links (often on the still active Sorcery Globe investigation forum), And sometimes it was even the other model hobbyists who couldn't resist wanting to know more.

“So why do you insist on visitors to show off your other works?” the hobbyist who had come to visit him asked shortly after coming in.

“I just like socializing face to face,” he said with a smile. “There is a difference between posting a picture for comments and getting to talk to somebody in person.”

“Oh, you're part of that movement for more social activities in 4D itself.”

“Nothing wrong with that. Come on, I’ve got some interesting projects going on.” He led the other hobbyist into his display room. Recently, he'd gotten a notice that if he got enough visitors, he could add a ranking as an artist to his citizenship files. That would get him approved for a house with an attached gallery so he had more room for his reconstructions. Getting people interested more in real socializing was great, but personally Ashe was hoping that this kind of curiosity as to what he had was going to be enough to get the gallery home. He was almost there.

Some of his works did make stronger arguments for being art with meaning. Like the diorama of a beautiful park, but the visitors were within a gray bubble that was much more sterile and dull. Others were just whimsical things. Like the time he found a points bargain on a large lot of miniature barrels for adding to models of things like cargo ships or towns. He'd used those to construct a castle as well as a larger barrel. Every time a visitor looked at them and blankly asked, “Why?”, Ashe ended up laughing. Why not?

And there was one project he was working on since he'd heard about the possibility of him getting a gallery home. Most of his works were sculptures or dioramas while people expected a framed picture to be around in a gallery. So he was taking up bits of colored modeling materials to make a mosaic picture of himself and Ashton, split diagonally between the two world they lived in. It was the first thing he'd thought of when he decided he ought to have some kinda picture in a gallery.

“I know a lot of people keep pictures of their Eternal Sphere characters on the walls, but why both of you?” the hobbyist asked. “It's your other self.”

“Not exactly, I think of him more like my brother,” Ashe said. “He has his life and I have mine, but we're still connected. I am really proud of him; he might even be marrying a princess if things turn out right.”

“But you could guide him through that.”

He shook his head. “No, he's managing well on his own. I just watch and help him out a little bit. Besides, the princess is an NPC with a protected profile, so there's not a lot I could do to cheat for him.”

“It's not cheating,” the hobbyist said, although Ashe felt strongly that it would be.

* * *

 

-Eluria, Dias

Of course, Lissa's quest brought them to Eluria in time. And once she heard that he had a friend here, she happily agreed to go meet with Ashton before finding out where to find the summoning spirits on this continent. They had to go all the way to Eluria Castle Town to find him. It looked nothing like the surreal tower and land that Dias had seen before. Actually, it was quite nice here, with its long stretches of farmland and cluster of mountains where sheep and goat herds were kept.

It was interesting seeing his friend so highly respected around here. It seemed like the whole country knew of him, respecting him for being the only heraldic knight on duty for a couple of months until those who'd been killed in the castle got over their time displacement sickness. When they got to him, Ashton was much the same as always, courteous and meek. He was able to get Lissa permission to look in the castle library for information about the spirits, which she was thrilled with.

While she was doing that, Ashton brought him over to a local bar to talk. “We've probably got time to find one of them before we've got to be headed to Cross to meet with the others,” Dias said. “If what we've been through is any indication.”

“Oh yes, I have to be arranging for that soon,” Ashton said. “I don't know how long I can stay in Cross, due to what's been going on.” He had an embarrassed kind of smile now.

Dias ended up smiling at him. “What's going on?”

“Well the nation is pretty much back to normal now,” he said. “So the royal family is discussing how to handle the princess getting married and somehow I got recommended as a candidate. Noble traditions dictate that I should be arranging a marriage anyhow since I’ve been a heraldic knight for over a year now.”

“Your people arrange marriages?” Dias asked. He'd heard of such practices but it never interested him until now that a friend was talking about it.”

Ashton nodded. “Yeah, the whole family gets together to discuss the matter and there's a whole series of things I need to be doing and events I need to go to to meet with potential brides. But since the princess is coming up, courtship events are at a bit of a lull right now. She probably won't have an initial presentation to society for a few months, but I need to get things rolling on my end to really be qualified. And trying for the princess' hand means I’d have to be taking some kind of challenge to prove my worth to join the royal family.”

“Sounds like a lot of work,” he said, to which Ashton nodded. It seemed odd to Dias, but then he didn't have the background to go through a formal courtship or arranged marriage himself. “What's she like? You like her?”

“She's very intelligent and well-liked; rumor is it that she could be named the royal heir and possibly rule as the queen some day.” He paused, smiling some. So it wasn't entirely formal here. “Even so, she's not too hard to talk to in a personal setting. We've been talking in an informal start a few times and apparently she has some fond memories of me being around the castle when we were kids. Well I do too, but I never thought I’d have a chance at getting into her courtship events. Especially not without asking.”

“Don't be too surprised, people have been talking about you ever since we got here,” Dias said.

“I’m just doing what I should,” Ashton said. “I'm hoping it could work out, but I’m not sure since most of their discussions have been behind closed doors so far.”

Dias shrugged. “Who knows? But, is there any reason she hasn't been acting publicly yet in getting a marriage arranged?”

“I wouldn't know, although she is a little older than usual for a princess to be starting,” he said.

He looked over at him, sitting by him at the bar counter. “Did you tell her that we were heading back to Cross at some point?”

“Yeah, that came up when she asked me more about what went on with the Sorcery Globe,” he said with a nod.

And that could be a good sign, which Dias felt glad about. “Ever think that she might be holding off until you get that obligation done?”

Ashton sputtered at that, nearly making Dias laugh. It was good having friends again. “N-no… you think it might be like that?”

“How could I know?” he said. “I don't know the girl. But it would be nice.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “So what's with you and Lissa? You seem pretty sweet on her.”

Since it was Ashton, he didn't feel much reluctance to talk about her. Either that or the beer. “We're close. It's strange, but I’ve been traveling around with her for months, not staying in any one place for long, yet when I’m with her, I've started feeling like I've found home again. Before, I thought I would never have a home again and never wanted someone close to me. I'm still not entirely sure what I should be doing with my life, but I want to stay with her more than anything.”

“I know how you feel, finding home again,” Ashton said, a warm smile on his face. “It seems simple, but greater than any treasure or accolade they could give me.”

Dias nodded. “Yeah, exactly.”


	49. Ending C: A Key to War

'Topic: Nice Set-up for War

(OP) Nim: Hey, we could set up a great war here on Expel. Wouldn't take a lot of additions since the Lacour king is ambitious, the Cross kingdom believes the arrangement between the Cross prince and the Lacour princess will hold, and the Eluria kingdom is in disarray with time displacement. We could get it to a single world government rather than a three kingdom arrangement in the end.

Reply #8 Enlo: No, let's not start a war for them. If they start it, it happens. If not, it doesn't. That's more fair.

Dozens of posts later, it was getting to be a powerful debate between the warmongers and the Expellian protectors. And when war debates got this heated, often some minority of the warmongers triggered the war anyhow. When this happened, the Sphere company usually stayed out of it. That was one reason why warmongers were such a strong faction even outside of servers where war was the main purpose.

However, the protectors had a powerful minority in him this time around. Protectors usually weren't hackers and if they were, they probably had strings to pull to get their favored world off the warmongers' list. Enlo had broken off ties with a lot of hackers, so he was on his own. On the other hand, the warmonger minority that triggered wars being debated usually were hackers.

Enlo spent a lot of time watching the threat lines of potential war in Expel. The Lacourian king was suffering from time displacement, but he would recover far faster than the Elurian people. If he did, that could get him uncontested access to the energy stone in Hoffman Ruins. He watched out for people trying to get the king or a representative of Lacour to Hoffman. And he could always put in some of his own obstacles to Lacour getting the island, or cause a rockslide in the mines if it was getting close. If they waited long enough, the Pangalactic Federation could agree to take in Expel and bring them up to date, bringing in Nedian knowledge of how to defend against and refine the energy stone better.

But that was all on the people of the Eternal Sphere to decide, not those in 4D. He was just buying them time to make and enact the decisions without one faction getting unfairly powerful.

At least Mirage's work had given him a way of getting the most unbalanced piece of the potential war off Expel. The so-called Lacour Hope cannon no longer existed, not even in blueprints. However, those who'd made it were still around and could still potentially remake it. For that, Enlo was going to have to be careful to protect Leon. He was key in making the potential war devastating, or even making it happen at all. But the child did not fully recognize that.

“Right, let's see what this angel can really do,” Enlo muttered as he saw signs of other hackers trying to get to Leon.

* * *

 

-Lacour, Noel

Noel had gotten Leon to agree to go with him back to Lacour as they had a lot to catch up on. This turned out fortunate as when they got back to Lacour Castle, things were bad. There were guards at the front gate into town that questioned them even though they recognized Leon as one of the castle researchers. For one thing, they wanted to know why Leon was outside town. “I ended up a long ways from town when things changed,” Leon told them, getting exasperated with all the questions. “And this man helped me get back. So could we get back in?”

“We have to be sure you're not a demon as things are so uncertain right now,” one of the guards said.

“We're not demons, we're regular people,” he said, flicking an ear. “Mostly.”

“Well demons would say that to fool us,” the other guard said.

Leon narrowed his eyes at them. “You do realize how ridiculous that is? You have to trust somebody and I am the head researcher.”

“Are there demons in the city?” Noel asked calmly. “I don't sense anything like that around.”

“Well no, but there are some people who claim to have died by drowning when they're here.”

“Including your admiral and a general?” Noel asked. When the guards looked at each other, he added, “It happened, but the change that came over the world brought them back to life here rather than out at sea, correct? In that case, is it not reasonable that Master Leon ended up somewhere he wasn't and had to travel back home after the change?”

“I guess you're right?” one of the guards said. Some more calm discussion got them allowed into the city.

Once they got into Lacour, things were in further confusion. There were talk of demons, of course. But there was also talk of invading the continent of Eluria to the north, where Ashton had gone and where the people would be suffering time displacement worse. It might be leftover knowledge from what had been going on before Expel died. But that could lead to a real invasion. That worried Noel.

Although not as much as when they got to the long bridge over the lake that led to the castle. There were a pair of guards stationed there and they were not as set to turn them away. “Master Leon, you've returned!” one said, giving a salute. “You should go speak to General Hal immediately; the Lacour Hope has vanished.”

Leon's ears turned down; he still had some guilt over that. “I see. I'm pretty sure that was stolen by demons and we're not getting it back. What about M… my parents? Are they in or did they end up somewhere else too?”

“They're here, but the lab is under lock down until this issue with the Hope is resolved,” the guard said. “Although you should be allowed to come and go from there.”

“Who's this with you?” the second guard finally asked.

“A friend of mine,” Leon said. “He's helping me out so he should be fine as long as he's with me.”

“You'll have to register him as a guest of yours at the front desk,” he said. “The castle isn't open to any visitors otherwise.”

“All right. How's the king?”

“He has the castle on high security, so we couldn't tell you further.”

“Okay… what about the princess?”

Oddly enough, this caused both of the guards to pale. “P-princess Rozelia? She, uh...”

“She's resting to recover from the shock of the change, t-that's all,” the other said.

“Really?” Leon asked, doubtful. Noel didn't like the looks of this either, especially after what they'd seen in the trials. “What about the rumors that she got shut up in the tower?”

“Did that get out?” one guard asked, even more nervous.

“Well, if you already know that,” the other guard said, seeming like he wanted to talk, “yes, she did get locked in before the change. Nobody liked it, but the king insisted and didn't order her released, even after things changed. And the lab isn't the only area of the castle under lock down. The kitchen got locked down too and guards are posted to make sure nobody poisons the food. And a few other places, it's gotten crazy. But we've got our orders and have to carry them out.”

“Yes, there is that,” Leon said. “All right, I'll see about finding the general and checking on the lab. Thank you.” Once they were further down the bridge, he said, “This doesn't sound right. Things weren't that bad.”

“If the king is suffering from time displacement in which he died, it would increase his paranoia,” Noel said. “We'll talk with your parents and see about getting them out of here. All of you could be in danger.”

“But what about the princess? I don't know her all that well, but she's been nice enough to us when she visits the labs. Doesn't get in the way and listens.” Leon seemed to be thinking hard on that.

“It's unfortunate, but we'll do what we can,” Noel said, not wanting to be certain on if they could do anything about the princess. He didn't like it either, but, “Besides, I’m a zoologist, not a mercenary or someone who could really help with trying to break a princess out of a tower.”

“Yeah,” he said, seeming unsatisfied with that but acknowledging there wasn't a lot they could really do.

The general, of course, wanted them to get to work on remaking the Lacour Hope. Noel didn't get to listen into all of it just being Leon's guest, but Leon did look a mix of dispirited and annoyed when he came back. “They don't want me to leave the castle either,” Leon said as they headed to the lab in the basement. “Though they'll let me around the castle. The army and navy want to take advantage of the confusion in the planet's rebirth to take permanent claim of Hoffman Island, then rebuild the Lacour Hope and attack Eluria and Cross. And the king's on their side, or so they say.”

“That'd be hard on them to fight against two other countries,” Noel said.

“But if they had the cannon… well once we get out of here, they won't be able to have it.”

That counted on them getting out and it was looking like coming back in might be a mistake. However, Noel didn't want to keep Leon from his adoptive parents. They'd just have to put their heads together to get out safely. The castle researchers were having a meeting around a table when they arrived, but that was quickly broken up when they came in. A pink-haired woman ran over and hugged Leon on seeing him. “Leon, there you are! We were so worried.”

“I'm glad to see you again, Momma,” he said, some of his emotions breaking out. But he got back to a focused state readily once he'd hugged his father too. “Oh, this is Noel Chandler, um, a zoologist and my birth father. He's gonna help us out.”

“Thanks for taking care of him,” Noel said, nodding to Florence and Murdoch.

“Oh, of course,” Murdoch said, glancing at his wife in some worry. But he collected himself quickly too. “We've been ordered to keep focused on remaking the Lacour Hope, but all the blueprints and design notes were lost. So...”

“It can't be rebuilt and even if it could, we shouldn't,” Leon said firmly. “And since that can't be done and they seem insistent on it, we have to get out of here.”

All the others in the room looked shocked at Leon for suggesting this. “Well, wouldn't want to stick around if we can't meet their orders,” one researcher agreed.

“Yeah, they've gotten strict on even the princess. Nobody in the castle likes having her locked up, save maybe the generals, admiral, and king for some reason.”

“Well even if we've got the idea, we've still got to get out and that could be hard,” Murdoch said. “The guards won't even let us leave the lab.”

“They'll let me leave and get around the castle,” Leon said.

“I've heard that you were working on a ferry for the moat,” Noel said to Florence.

She smiled brightly and nodded. “Oh yeah, and it's a beauty. It'd down in the dock to the kitchens right now, we could get to it through the basement passages.”

“What?” a number of the others there asked. Even her husband seemed surprised.

Florence gestured to one of the doors. “It's on the dry dock, not entirely finished, but I did a lot of work on it. If I could get some help, it shouldn't take long to get it floating safely. But all of you were focused on the cannon so I had to do a lot on my own.”

“I didn't realize you had gotten that far along on it,” Murdoch said. “But if we can get it afloat, we might be able get into town at night and take one of the lesser used gates through the walls.”

They all headed down to the dry dock to check over what the ferry needed. Here at least, Noel could help out on some smaller parts to finishing the project. While they worked, the subject of the princess being held came up again, of if they could get her out. As much of the staff in the castle didn't like it, they could get assistance from others to get her to the lab and on the ferry. The only one of them that could get out of the lab reasonably was Leon. He would have to go get her on his own as Noel's presence in the halls as an unfamiliar person might cause questions.

“We can trust him,” Noel said to Leon's other father after he'd gone.

“I do, but I'm still worried,” Murdoch said. “But, did you mean to take him back to your home? Like, back to the stars because that's where he fell from?”

“I'd like to someday, but that relies on factors I have no say in right now,” Noel said. “But I wanted to meet you both and help you out some. You're his parents too so I don't want to take him from you.”

“That's good. I know you've probably got a lot of time you want to make up for missing with him, but then Florence, well, she's going to be difficult to talk into letting Leon go.”

“I’ve heard, and I may know something more to help,” he said. “But later, it's a long explanation to get through.”

* * *

 

-Leon

After talking with the guards outside of the lab and confirming they were on the princess' side, Leon had them send for another guard who could come with him to the tower she was shut in. They had to deal with one of the guards who didn't want to let him in out of orders to the king, but a sleeping spell on him got the other guard to readily agree to keep quiet and let them in. He even got the keys that would take the chains off the princess' ankle.

Rozelia was dressed like a prisoner now, in a badly shaped brown dress that was more like a burlap sack and thin slippers. She looked a bit dirty but had gotten regular meals. “The research team is getting out of the castle because we don't want to rebuild the Lacour Hope,” Leon told her. “We could take you with us if you want.”

“Well I’d hope to talk my father into some sense,” the princess said sadly, looking down.

“Please, my lady, go with them,” the guard said. “The people believe in you to bring us to a more peaceful future when they worry about what the king will lead us too. You have to stay safe so you can come back and restore things to how they should be.”

Rozelia got to her feet on that. “I don't know how well I could do in that. Do the people really believe in me?”

“Yes, the staff doesn't like you in here and people in town are wondering why you're here,” Leon said.

“Right, you've always done excellently in your studies and dealt fairly with others,” the guard said, a bit more enthusiastic than he needed to be. “Please go.”

“All right. Thank you Leon.” They carefully went down the hall to avoid being seen by the king's supporters, getting to the basement level as soon as they could as it was easier to get around there. The guard who escorted them even insisted on coming along to protect Rozelia, which Leon wasn't about to argue against. Between them, there was a sound a bit like love, although he didn't know how exactly to interpret it.

While heading back to the lab, Leon's ears flicked to some sounds that were out of place in the castle. Some kind of intelligence was trying to reach him. A monster, ghost, or demon? From the quality of it, they weren't sounds the others would hear. At the same time, he heard a more familiar comforting power keeping close to him. That was his angel, unseen now but watching over him and his father as always. Leon felt safe knowing that the angel would be there to guard against those other presences, so he ignored them and listened for signs of those who might actually see or reach them.

The others in the lab were still working to get Florence's ferry afloat by nightfall, but a couple of the women left off the work to take the princess off to get a shower and a change of their clothes so it looked like she belonged with them. Oddly enough, the princess wanted to help out in some way. But the things she'd been taught meant that the only thing she could really do was put together a small flag for the ferry. That did help to keep Florence's mind from straying as she thought the ferry ought to have a flag even though they would probably just use it once.

When they moved the ferry into the water, Leon listened in closely to see how it interacted with the water. “I think we'll be all right in terms of making the crossing, for the boat's capabilities that is,” he said, not wanting to say that he was certain that bringing everyone here onto the boat and crossing the moat was completely safe, if they didn't have to worry about possible guards loyal to the king firing at them or trying to meet them no the other side.

“We just have to hope nobody sees us and tried to attack on the water,” Murdoch said.

Fortunately, their crossing was quiet. A group their size passing through the streets at night would be seen as suspicious and several of the adults worried about that. But they made their way to one of the smaller gates quickly and used the guard's loyalty to the princess to get outside. Then it was off to Linga.

* * *

 

-Noel

On their way to Linga (a university town that the research group was sure would help them out), they passed by the area where the remains of the vessel that Noel had been on crashed. The crater was overgrown with vegetation now as the locals had scavenged all the metal and anything else that deemed potentially useful. But he could hear lots of animals around who didn't mind the landscape now. That was good; this planet still had a lot of untouched wilderness to it. It'd be easy to go off into some forest to observe the ecosystems they had here.

This night, he was apart from the others for a different reason. He'd brought Leon with him after getting some directions from Murdoch on where to look. They were out looking for his mother's ghost, after all. It was only right to let them meet.

But there were all kinds of supernatural sounds out here too. When Noel's ears twitched at one that was a bit too sharp for his liking, Leon said, “You're hearing them too, right? Demons.”

“There's a lot of activity on that level,” Noel agreed. “I wonder what they're up to.” Although in an unstable place like Lacour seemed to be now, they might be trying to cause chaos so they could return like when the Sorcery Globe had been active on this planet.

“I’ve been hearing them a lot, but the angel is protecting us,” Leon said. “We'll be okay.”

“Him, huh?” The angel hadn't been enough to prevent the disaster that separated them. But then again, he seemed sincerely remorseful about that, like it had come without warning to him too. He had to be more aware now. “We should trust him to do what we can't, but we're on our own for everything else.”

“Well that's how it should be,” Leon said, then turned towards the crater. Noel heard it too, a woman quietly crying. That had to be her.

They got to a point where they both heard her close by, then Noel had Leon stay still and quiet for a minute. That got her to appear to their sights, a faint echo of what she'd been. It made his heart ache, but it was best they put her to rest. Noel called her name. “Sula… do you hear me?”

“Noel?” she asked sadly, looking over like she didn't expect him to be there. She was even more surprised to see Leon. “And, my boy?”

“His name is Leon,” Noel said.

“Um, hello mother,” Leon said. Perhaps he'd planned on saying something, but coming face to face with her was stirring up some nearly forgotten feelings.

“You both survived,” she said, sighing in relief.

“And we found each other against all odds,” Noel said, coming close to her. “I love you and I’ve missed you, but it's time to say goodbye.”

“I missed you both,” she said. “I wish we could have been together longer. Are you going to be okay?”

“I'll find a new way in life, don't worry,” Noel said, finding himself thinking briefly of Chisato. But that wasn't for now. “I won't forget what you've done for me.”

“I've got to do something to make up for making the Lacour Hope,” Leon said. “But I’ll be fine, I can do it.”

“I'm sure you can,” Noel said.

“Just find a good life, I have hope for you both,” Sula said.

Then Noel bowed his head and recited a parting prayer that was usually given at funerals back on their home planet, putting her soul to rest and be released back home.

* * *

 

-Linga, Bowman

There was a lot to do for the castle researchers: get in contact with their colleagues here, make plans for what to do now, figure out what the king was up to. There was already talk about what to do if Linga wasn't far enough away to get out of the king's reach. For the time being, the princess had taken to the university library for some studies. Noel did as well, seeing what they had on this world's wildlife.

One evening, Leon, Florence, and Murdoch got together to meet up with some old friends at the Jeane Pharmacy. Bowman and his wife were busy with their newly born son, but they had agreed to meet with them about Florence's condition.

Fortunately, Florence was in one of her more lucid moments. “It's been a lot worse in past years,” she said. “I can focus more when I'm working on ships, generators, and water physics, but I can't tell how I'll be doing from day to day. And people tell me that I can be entirely different in personality at times.”

“If there was anything you could suggest to even out her mood swings, that would help us out a lot,” Murdoch said, apparently hoping for something out of either Bowman or Noel.

“We can try you out on the medication you were using when you were living here last again,” Bowman said, making a note to check his teacher's notes on that. “Although your mood swings weren't that severe as to be changing so often back then. There's a few other things I can think off of the top of my head, but they'd have pretty severe side effects and might interfere with her work.”

“Do you have any specific diagnosis for these kinds of disorders?” Noel asked.

“Not really,” Bowman said. “Diseases of the mind or emotions aren't easy to work with, unless they have heraldic origins and we can counter the magic specifically.”

He nodded. “I'm aware. Anyhow, since you know Leon and I are from the stars already, I can tell you that there is a debate on another world of if they will try to speak to you and help you out, or if they'll leave you alone. In most cases, we'd rather leave planets to their own development, but Expel has already been interfered with strongly so they might decide to forgo the usual patience. If that happens, we should be able to get Florence to another world where they can treat this kind of condition well. But for now, we'll have to work under the assumption that we'll have to deal with what your planet's knowledge is.”

“If we know more about what's going on with her, that will help with her and others greatly,” Bowman said.

“True, but then there's the problem of language.” Noel tapped near the base of his ear. “Leon and I both have small devices that automatically translate what we hear and what we say. That's what's letting you understand me even though I’m speaking a completely different language from you. But if I were to hit on a concept that doesn't have a word in your language, like …,” there was a brief moment where he seemed to be saying something nonsensical, “then it doesn't help. You'll have to come up with the language on your own from what I describe. So signal me somehow if I hit something you can't understand.”

“I could see how that would happen,” Murdoch said.

It took a few tries for Noel to get through his explanation without having the right words. “As I told Leon, psychology isn't my field, but I know some and I would guess that she's …, which basically describes the way she goes from high moods to low without much transition in such extremity. Her brain is wired differently than most people,” there were a number of skipped words so he had to keep trying until, “the signals for what she should be feeling get mixed up and some areas end up overstimulated, which end up in her lack of focus and judgment when highly emotional. But it is the way her mind is structured that lets her do great work on things she favors. So you're right, treating the mood swings can end up suppressing all of her mental facilities.”

“If it's mental over-stimulation, would you think that remedies for reoccurring headaches and such could do something?” Bowman asked. There were some specifically for those whose minds seemed to be far too active.

“It would be an option, but you have to give any potential treatments some time to work,” Noel said.

Bowman nodded, some ideas of where to go now with Florence formulating in his head. “Of course. Hey, but at least you're out of the castle now. Getting the pressure from the lab off you should help.”

“It certainly is,” Florence said.

Later on, Noel got into another interesting discussion although not necessarily on a problem. “I have been meaning to talk to the two of you about it,” he said to Florence and Murdoch. “But we haven't gotten the time before and I think Bowman here would be interested.”

“What've you got on your mind?” Murdoch asked. Bowman smiled, wondering what it would be. The prospect of learning from an advanced culture, one that did have healing heraldry, was enticing. But he had to stay here for his family now.

And he did have something interesting to relate. “Leon's told me that he asked you once about what sounds the elements of mana would make if they weren't doing anything. It was actually a serious question. Both he and I have a rare talent to hear the elements and other things usually unheard, rare enough that there's not much written about it. I hear the earth, the air, and the plants best, while he hears the water best, along with the elements of space itself: void, vacuum, and stars.”

This led to a long conversation that ended up with Bowman offering Noel some work in the pharmacy since he could hear more about plants than normal.

* * *

 

-space station near Earth, Chisato

Much as she'd feared, the media culture of the Federation was much different from Energy Nede. Eventually, she got sick of it. “Being at the extremes, I hate 'em both,” Chisato told Mirage while they walked through a garden area in the space station where the Nedian refugees had come to live. “It was so hard to find something novel in Nede and even harder to get people's attention because they didn't care about much. But at least you could get a good amount of time to do decent work. Here, there's so much pressure to have things reported fast and accurate that it's best to take a dry efficient style of writing, which is boring. And it's hard to get people's attention because they've got so much else that they could be paying attention to.”

“And you can't just waltz on in anywhere,” Mirage said.

Chisato frowned. “Thanks for remembering, but I already ranted about that. Our children are going to grow into this while our adults seem like they're likely to keep some level of isolation so they don't get swept away in all this. I don't blame 'em, but I'm too competitive to stay with them and I'm not doing too well keeping up with the Federation.”

“You want me to tell you to go to Expel,” she said with a smirk.

“Mirage!” Chisato said, annoyed at her bluntness yet playing it up. “You just want to cut me off from a monologue.”

She laughed. “Well that is the sensible solution, so no point beating around the bush. You already know a good amount about Expel and it's a speed somewhere in-between. But there is some challenge in that freedom of the press isn't a standard idea and you're limited in what you can write about until a decision is made on the planet's status with the Federation.”

“Yeah, but if I want them to start thinking from something I write, it's more likely to happen on Expel then either back on Nede or even here in the Federation. And while I didn't like the chronicler job at first, I really like that planet.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“And you'd be back to bugging Noel whenever you want once you find him,” Mirage said.

“Do you have to tease me like that?” Chisato asked.

“You were the one who wanted to talk to me,” she pointed out.

“Well I guess I only have myself to blame for that,” she said, rolling her eyes.

Mirage chuckled. But then surprisingly, she came a step closer. “It won't be easy convincing a widower to take a chance on love again. But you've already got him thinking about it, much better than that student at Giveaway that was trying to win him with domestics. If that's what you really want, sure, go to Expel and start talking to him again. And if it's not what you want, Expel will probably still be a good fit for you.”

Chisato smiled. “As much as you tease me, thanks as always for the excuse in my crazy impulses. But then the trouble is getting to Expel when the committees are still dithering.”

“I’ve heard that it's pretty much decided yes, but formalities and getting the ambassadors trained is taking some time.” She patted her arm. “You should see what I’ve been fiddling around with lately. Come with me.”

* * *

 

-Numra, Noel

Not long after they got into Linga, the king had sent troops down trying to reclaim them. At least Leon and Rozelia. But Rozelia had decided to stand her ground. She wanted to talk to other people on the Lacour continent and get what they thought of her father's policies. If enough of them weren't happy with the prospect of taking war off their land, she'd confront her father again. Perhaps fight if need be.

“But we don't want father getting a hold of people like the Geestes who could remake the cannon or other weapons,” the princess had said. “Once this matter is settled, you're welcome to return. But for the time being, I must request that you head to another land to keep safe.”

They agreed and so Noel found himself traveling with Leon, Florence, Murdoch, and a number of other scientists on a ship to the continent of Cross. The king there was kind and welcoming to them, even allowing them to build up an old nearly-abandoned village to suit their needs. However, he did warn them against going inside one ruin in the area. Being that there were an immense amount of curious people among them, it seemed to be tempting fate. Noel went out to investigate the area around the ruin with Bowman in part to find something to keep the others heeding the warning.

Bowman quickly pointed out the runic writing on a stone slab in the middle of small ruin. “That's something the people of Mars could tell us about. The way the runes are drawn is signature to them. From what I can tell through the binoculars, whatever's down there is bad news. Some kind of curse that could devastate this town, possibly the whole land if it gets out.”

Listening in to the earth, Noel could pick out a sickly mumble around the stone. It got weaker as one got further from it; they were safe where they were. Down below, though, it grew stronger. “Indeed. The plants and animals here don't seem to mind until you reach the stone pavement. There, they avoid it. Getting within reach of that stone could make you ill; removing it could unleash a plague.”

“I wonder if there's still some way we could study it and see about preparing medicine just in case it returns,” Bowman said, rubbing his chin. “Just leaving this plague curse alone doesn't sit well with me. It'd be best if it could be eliminated completely. But then, doing such a thing would take great caution.”

“I suppose it is better left to wiser and cooler heads then letting some student poke at it,” Noel said.

Bowman smiled. “You suggesting we should look into that?'

“It makes sense,” he said.

Then he heard someone he hadn't heard in some time. It must have only been a few months ago, but seemed longer since he'd heard Chisato calling out, “Hey Noel! Ha ha, tracked you down again.”

“You always do,” he said once she got closer. “Hello Chisato.” He then introduced the two to each other, his new friend and his old. But explaining her took a bit longer. “You remember that book Kieth translated, about the utopian world lost to time? She's from that world, and I was there for a short time.”

“Oh, that was where you guys ended up to get our world revived?” Bowman asked.

Chisato nodded. “Yeah, but utopia is like beauty. It's all in the eye of the beholder and not everyone will be happy with it. I was one of those that wasn't happy and I much prefer being in a place like this. Even more than being with the Federation.'

“Then have they decided to accept Expel?” Noel asked.

“It's not official yet,” she admitted. “But it's going to happen once they get the formal process done. I'm not one to wait on bureaucracy, though. So what are you doing out here?”

“It's not something we want a lot of people messing with,” Bowman said.

Noel shook his head. “No, I think she can be of great help in this.” He pointed out the stone. “Don't go near there since you'll get sick, but there's some kind of plague or curse sealed up underneath there. We came to check things out after getting a vague warning to stay away. After all, a lot of the people who just moved in here are used to investigating unknowns. But the previous residents who are still here won't tell us anything; neither will the court. Could you dig up something on this place?”

“Hmm, the place looks a bit familiar,” Chisato said, looking over the ruins around the seal. “You know, I bet one of the older Expel chronicles covered what happened here and why that's sealed up. I'll get a message out to Reyfus to look things up for me. And since that looks like the handiwork of the Mars magic users, I’ll investigate things around here and there in the meantime to see what's up.”

“Getting information on what other people don't want to relate is a bit of her specialty,” Noel said to Bowman.

Bowman smiled. “Ah, I see. That's good. In the meantime, we can do some more study of this particular area, including the plants, animals, and monsters to get hints as to what's going on. That should give us more information to make a better plan.”

Not only was it good towards helping with this, but Noel felt it was good just to have her around again.

* * *

 

-Leon

When he had been on the Calnus, Leon had copied a number of formulas from Precis' notes. The Federation people said that some of them seemed familiar, but they had held back on saying anything as was their custom. But there was no problem for the two of them to exchange information. One thing in particular, her work on what she called water-vein power, was something he showed to his parents so they could experiment with alongside his vacuum energy research.

Florence was particularly enchanted with the idea, pulling Murdoch in on some inventing with the mechanism. Of course, there was that concern that if the Federation was okay with Expel, all this new technology would be far outdated. But Opera had encouraged him to do as much as he could, hinting that it might be helpful. Leon helped his parents on some water-vein work, but he had some ideas on the vacuum energy system too.

Nearly a year after they had left, Opera and Ernest had come back as galactic ambassadors to represent the Federation on Expel. They brought Precis back with them and while the two Tetragenians left to continue meeting with people and assessing where Expel stood, they left Precis here for the time being. She had been excited to see what her father was doing with solar tiles and what his parents were doing with water-veins. Still, she also wanted to check out how he was doing with his research.

Leon showed her his new arrangement of pipes and valves for it. “I’m still not sure what kind of energy this system is drawing on, which leads to the problem of I don't know if it's an infinite source or finite. And there was an issue with regulating the energy build-up; that needed to come under control to focus on peaceful uses of this. This system here has been flowing for a week now and I can use this outlet to power another device, or use this wheel to build up power or stop the draw.” He checked the gauge nearby, then went to record the number.

“Oo, so you've got it doing what you want then?” Precis asked, thankfully looking over the system instead of prodding it.

“Almost,” he said, showing her the number. “Tuning it to maintain its energy has been finicky. Just a bit too little control and the buildup gets to beyond the pipe's capacity. Just a bit too much control and the energy starts dropping. I've been trying to figure out a better way to store it than just leaving the pipe active. But this kind of research could take years, unless they already know about it.”

“Actually, they don't,” she said.

His ears turned towards her in interest. “Really, they don't?”

Precis shrugged. “Well I only asked a few physics and heraldry professors at Scelida. They didn't know that vacuum energy could be used to do what you did with the Lacour Hope, at least as much as I could describe to them. Said that there wasn't a lot of utility to the element in their knowledge; one even said that there's not many worlds that recognize it as an element of heraldry at all. But worlds are big places and the Federation is made up of lots of worlds, with people even living out in enclosed cities in space! That's where the Nedians are now for the most part. But not even Mirage knew a lot, so you might have to do a lot of searching to see if anyone else knows about this kind of thing.”

And just maybe, nobody else knew about this kind of science. So Leon could find fame well beyond his parents had with something no one else knew of. Then again, that knowledge was something not of use to anyone unless he could figure out a peaceful means of using it. And what the source of this energy build-up was. The Federation scientists might have better instruments to figure that out. “Hmm, I would.”

“Oh, you should come study at Scelida with me!” Precis said, enthusiastic about the idea. “Of course, I haven't settled anything, but the Federation people did say that they would sponsor a few promising youths on Expel to come to other worlds with full scholarships and assistance to catch up with them, then come back and help spread that knowledge here. They already said that I’m qualified for the program and they got a spot reserved for me! And I’m sure once they see your work on this, they'll gladly sponsor you too.”

“They're doing that?” Leon asked, intrigued. That had been something his father worried about, if the knowledge of other worlds would come at a price. But if they were giving scholarships, and if his vacuum energy research really was unique, this was an opportunity not to missed. On the other hand, what about his parents? All three of them; he wanted to keep in contact with them and Expel needed some work in order to have good contact with other worlds.

“It's already going to be great getting to study on other worlds,” she went on. “But it'd be more fun if there were other Expellians at the school I went to. And we already said that we were going to work together, so why not start with that?'

“Um, are they going to set things up so we could write to our families here on Expel?” he asked.

Precis nodded. “Yup, they've already got a pair of mechanical satellites up in the sky to act as relays. They just need to get some receivers set up down here and work out a system to handle such communications. And with the awesome machines they have, the receivers will be a cinch to set up and get going once they have permission from the people. Mirage even wrote up a translation metal instructions so the screen minds can display our language instead.”

“That's good, but I think we may need to leave the naming of things to others,” Leon said. Receivers was fine, but he didn't know abut screen minds or metal instructions.

“Hey, I’m not that bad at naming things!” she protested.

Leon resisted rolling his eyes. “Yeah, if you say so. It sounds good, but I have to speak with my parents. Oh, and, does it have to be Scelida?”

“Well that's just where I started doing some catch-up,” Precis said. “Tetragenes is a really neat place! Everybody lives in great big buildings in the sky! Of course, they do that because the surface of their world was poisonous for a long time. But they're just about done fixing that so you can go down to where there's ruins of what was as well as great vast stretches of wilderness.”

“That does sound neat,” he agreed. “But, I wanted to go see Roark with Noel. It's the homeworld of our people, and he went to a university there. It'd be nice if I could get accepted there too.”

“Hmm, yeah, it could be,” she said. “If there school has a science and heraldry department that suits our studies, since we'd have to check on that if we wanted to stick together. But that'd be another world to see! So awesome.”

“I suppose studying with you would help both of us catch up to where we need to be,” Leon said.

Fortunately, Murdoch and Florence agreed that this was an opportunity not to be missed for Leon to join the scholarship program with Precis. It helped them as well to know that there would still be a means to communicate with each other. And then Chisato happily agreed to take them in the spaceship she had from Mirage to apply and check out potential schools. That was going to be an adventure very different from when he'd traveled to Energy Nede. But, Leon felt like he'd enjoy this adventure a whole lot better.

* * *

 

-4D, Enlo

Topic: That Can't Be Serious

OP, Nim: I've been having some trouble with my robot butler lately, mostly in that his attitude has gotten really haughty and condescending to me. I went in the adjust its personality only to find that someone had hacked it. They even left a threat warning me to stop being a hacking warmonger on Expel or they'd keep at this. Weirdest of all, the threat was signed as being from Lucifel. I didn't think the peacekeepers were so audacious.

Reply #3 (Lotus): don't dismiss it immediately guys. Nim, what's the source numbers like?

Reply#5 (Nim): here's the source, don't recognize it.

Reply #6 (Lotus): ****, you are dealing with Lucifel. Listen, do what the guy says and don't try to **** with him. He can do a lot worse than just making your butler bossy.

Reply #7 (Nim): Are you serious? ****, I thought the guy was totally erased, not reincarnated.

Reply #9 (Enlo): The guy's really out there and you really don't want to mess with him.

Reply #10 (Lotus): I'm dead serious. I tried to fight him once decades ago and he totally played me. Made me think I was getting the better of him and just as I was about to say that'd I’d won, he undid everything I'd set up in three seconds and turned it into a trap against me. My life was horrible until I apologized and accepted him as the better hacker. He's left me alone since, but that and the pirate ship incident are really making me think twice about any code tampering, especially in the Eternal Sphere. Sometimes I wonder if the guy got hired by the company.

Reply #11 (Heath): I was gonna back you on the Expel war, Nim, but if Lucifel of all people is saying no, I'd drop that like a hot pan. I'd rather tangle with Enlo than Lucifel.

 

Enlo watched over this topic on a hidden board. He had some mixed feelings about what they were posting about him. These days, he only pulled out the Lucifel card to scare a young hacker like Nim here. It was something to be used rarely. Maybe it was time to stop using it entirely? On the other hand, it did what he wanted and got the hackers to stop pressuring for this war potential. It might even stop the topics wanting a war on Expel in time.

They were mostly wrong about him being part of the Sphere Company. While their current rules didn't allow him to be employed directly, Blair had arranged for him to be a contract worker. Although mostly he was keeping an eye on the hacking community and boards like this, warning her of potential issues and edits. It was nice to know he was doing good this lifetime.

At least, some good. Because once he gathered enough for a report to send in, he went back to his work in stirring up Delrina society. Enlo knew he had to start small, poking at people rather than introducing big changes. The ideas for how things could be different had to get out there. For that, he encouraged gossip on things like Penny's proposal to build an entirely new neighborhood as a hobby. That wasn't exactly small, but Enlo's assistance was, mostly in making sure that people heard about it and felt comfortable in voicing their opinions on it.

Or efforts like Ashe was making to encourage more direct socializing in hobbies. Everyone liked hobbies but everything was geared towards isolation and individualism. Enlo spread word of Ash and others who made hobbies more social. In fact, he was working towards getting a paper crafts hobby group to plan a big group project for all their members to contribute to where the members had to come in to add their part. If that went well, then group projects could catch on again.

Or situations like Dano and Louisa were in, to encourage less structured relationships. Which included… there was no way Enlo was going to spread word on this, though. Maybe if another couple didn't mind, he'd help spread gossip. But not this time.

CJ had offered to take him out on a date yesterday; he had to start getting ready for that soon. She was a widow and there was no option to have an official relationship after being married once. And he, well there was no way in hell that the marriage service would work with him even if his crimes had been several lifetimes ago.

But since they were both ineligible for formal marriage, what was really wrong with them getting together informally?


	50. Two World Reunion

CJ felt happy. This week had been spent in a lot of preparation, getting her house ready for all the visitors that were coming over. As a year had passed in the Eternal Sphere since their characters had returned home, they were getting back together on both sides. On that side, they were getting back together in the hometown of Rena and Dias.

The Pangalactic Federation had agreed to bring in Expel to protect it, preparing them for full integration in a few generations once their education level had come up to a good level. That meant that Opera and Ernest were there, getting ready to settle in as ambassadors from the Federation. They had brought along Precis and Claude, although the former was going to go back to Tetragenes for study at a university and the latter was going to take Rena off to marry her and settle elsewhere. Nearly all the rest were already on the Cross continent, Dias bringing along his traveling companion Lissa whom the other found them to be suspiciously close. But Ashton, Gyoro, and Ururun had to take a ship so they could come all the way from Eluria.

On the Delrina side, CJ had set up a large monitor on one wall set to watch over the group on Expel. The others were all coming over to her house for a party, including Dano bringing over his girlfriend Louisa (they were still only technically married and had been getting plenty of attention from others who were interested in having other options available on Delrina). Even Enlo managed to come out of hiding to attend; he claimed that he had to bribe the transport station worker to keep quiet about his nonstandard pass, although it was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

The fates of various worlds had crossed due to their actions. Some had to stay separate but others had come to a knowledge and future that none of them would have dreamed of before. As far as CJ could tell, they had all changed for the better in it and still had a bright future to look forward to.

As it should be; everyone deserved a good future.


End file.
